Kyle Kirkwood has topped the timesheets for the first IndyCar practice session of the weekend at Belle Isle, leading Pato O’Ward by just two hundredths of a second.
This is the first time the rookie has led any IndyCar session in his career so far, and he was quite happy to have his AJ Foyt Racing Chevy roll off the truck as well as it did.
Kirkwood even stated that he had quite a bit of pace left in the car, and is looking forward to seeing how well he can qualify on Saturday.
There is no rest this afternoon for him, however, as the skilled driver is pulling double-duty and will be driving the #17 Vasser Sullivan Lexus in the IMSA sessions as well as the IndyCar sessions.
Alexander Rossi, who was just announced for a switch to Arrow McLaren SP starting in 2023, put his Andretti Autosport Honda third on the charts.
Simon Pagenaud and Marcus Ericsson rounded out the top five, with five different teams filling out the top spots.
There were a couple stoppages in the 45-minute session, with Dalton Kellett bringing out the first red flag just a few minutes into the session.
Later on, Felix Rosenqvist went wide through the first turn and ended up in the tire barriers that line the outside of the corners.
As a result of that incident, Simon Pagenaud stopped on track and had to be restarted by trackside officials as well.
All three drivers had five minutes removed from their allotted time as a penalty, as per established rules, and all except Rosenqvist were able to continue later in the session.
Drivers will return to the track on Saturday, with a second practice session ahead of qualifying just after noon local time.
