The opening practice session for IndyCar took place on Friday afternoon under sweltering conditions, and Simon Pagenaud was able to lay down the fastest time of the day.
Lapping the 1.97-mile shoreside street course in 1 minute 7.199 seconds, Pagenaud put unexpectedly grippy conditions to good use.
In the early part of the 45-minute session, it was Marcus Ericsson who was at the top of the timesheets, with his #8 entry looking hooked up from the outset.
Some of the rookies looked hooked up as well, with Callum Ilott and Kyle Kirkwood both logging top 10-worthy times before the session was over.
Multiple drivers related that the times from Friday’s running will likely not mean much, however, as cooler air temperatures the rest of the weekend are set to change the track drastically.
Friday’s practice was the only one that will be run in the scorching heat, and the rest of the weekend has more average temperatures forecast.
Jimmie Johnson brought out the session’s first short red flag when he was too aggressive on the curbs and ran his Chip Ganassi Racing Honda into the tire barriers.
Not long after the green flag was back out, Dalton Kellet had a spin in the same corner and stalled his AJ Foyt Racing entry. After a quick jump start by the safety crew, he was able to get back on track.
At the end of the session the series’ only current female driver Tatiana Calderon ran long into one of the run-off areas, and did not have room to turn around leading to an early retirement from the session.
Saturday’s practice will take place at 8:45AM local time, well before the sun has a chance to warm the track as well. The change in conditions could bring quite a bit of frustration to the drivers as their teams try to adjust setups on the fly.
