The NTT IndyCar Series took to the track for the first time of the weekend on Friday afternoon, with all 27 drivers turning laps around the 7/8-mile Iowa Speedway oval.
It was a busy session, as the 90 minutes allotted represents the only open track time before qualifying takes place on Saturday.
Completing over 100 laps and turning the fastest single lap of the day was Scott McLaughlin, with his best time around the short oval being 17.3134 seconds at 185.891 MPH.
McLaughlin flirted with the track record during his run, utilizing the repaved corners and the new hybrid system to boost his car into the top spot on the timesheets.
Alex Palou was marginally slower on his fast lap, with Pato O’Ward setting the third best time.
David Malukas, who has loved oval racing since joining the series, set the fourth best time, with Scott Dixon rounding out the top five.
Agustin Canapino looked strong all afternoon, and ended the day with the sixth best lap among all drivers.
Before the actual practice session got underway, all drivers were given 15 minutes to drive some laps in the high lane of the track.
The extra time was meant to work rubber into the track and give the upper groove more grip for the rest of the weekend.
Drivers were not really able to explore the high lane once practice started, however, as the drop in grip was drastic once they moved more than one car width off the bottom line.
Despite the effort, two drivers lost control during the timed practice run when they drifted up the track too high, with Marcus Ericsson having the worst outcome of the two.
He lost control entering Turn 3, spun around and smacked the outside SAFER barriers. The Swede was unhurt, but the rear end of his #28 Andretti Global suffered quite a bit of damage.
Later in the session, Katherine Legge also spun, but she was able to keep her #51 Dale Coyne Racing Honda off the wall.
She was attempting to pass the slower car of Christian Lundgaard, and just could not find enough grip to keep her car pointed straight.
Santino Ferrucci very nearly suffered the same fate, but was just able to gather up his car before reaching the outside walls.
A strange incident happened in pit lane when Scott Dixon appeared to begin pulling into the wrong pit box.
He realized his mistake of thinking the Arrow McLaren crew members were from own his orange-clothed team, and attempted to continue in the slow lane of pit road.
He clipped Canapino who was pulling into his own box just ahead, and slid into a set of tires sitting out on the ground. No major damage resulted, however, and everyone was able to continue with the rest of the session.
In total, 2,256 laps were turned by the entire field, with some drivers nearly completing half of a race distance on their own.
Now all drivers look forward to qualifying Saturday afternoon, which will set the grid for both races of the double-header.
