The opening session of the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix took place on Friday afternoon, with Scott McLaughlin setting the fastest time late in the session.
The Team Penske driver lapped the 2.3-mile course in 1:06.6610, gliding through the picturesque hills as if the car was on rails.
There was initially some concern that the weekend would feature plenty of rain to test the drivers more than usual, but conditions ended up being perfect for Friday’s opening session.
Under blue skies, all 27 drivers enjoyed the smooth and flowing track which ranks on the favorites list for most everyone.
Colton Herta also placed himself near the top of the standings, putting in a lap 0.158 seconds slower than McLaughlin.
Will Power was just behind in third, and the Chip Ganassi due of Scott Dixon and Marcus Ericsson filled out the top five.
Despite 75 minutes being set aside for Friday’s action, there were multiple stoppages that brought momentary halts to proceedings.
Helio Castroneves was the first driver to bring out a red flag when he launched his Meyer Shank Racing Honda over the new curbing at turns 7 and 8.
There had been some concern that the new curbs were taller than the ones that had been there previously, and it didn’t take long for drivers to find out the hard way just how dangerous they were.
Pato O’Ward touched the grass coming over the crest at turn 12, and nearly crunched into the tire barriers.
He was able to expertly bring his car under control as it skidded through the gravel, and the only casualty was one of the plastic advertising boards.
Not everyone was so lucky, and Will Power ended up damaging his front wing after he failed to bring his own car under control after just touching the side of the course. He was able to return for the final few minutes following quick repairs by his team.
Not very incident was caused by running off course, however, as Romain Grosjean stopped on course roughly halfway through the session after smoke poured from the back of his Andretti Autosport Honda.
He was towed back to the pit lane, and was not able to return to the track for the remainder of the afternoon. Grosjean only completed nine laps during the afternoon.
Friday’s running was the only session scheduled for Friday, and drivers will be back out for more valuable track time Saturday morning. That will be followed by knockout qualifying, which takes place at 2:00 PM Central Time.
