Scott Dixon fronted a Kiwi 1-2 in the first session of testing for next month’s Indy 500.
The 2008 winner of the hallowed oval race posted a scorching sub-40 second lap, averaging 225.662 mph.
Dixon was the only driver to achieve such speed, with McLaughlin’s best lap averaging 223.984 mph.
McLaughlin also set the fastest non-tow lap of anyone. In fact, his Penske stablemates Will Power and Josef Newgarden were 1-2-3 on the non-tow lap standings.
Everyone got roughly two hours of track time despite rain delaying the start by 90 minutes.
Only one driver was involved in any notable incident. Alexander Rossi, winner of the 2016 race, spun while exiting the pitlane.
He didn’t hit the wall but did bring out a yellow flag.
Santino Ferrucci was third fastest in the session.
The American racer, who was third in the 2015 Toyota Racing Series, has finished no lower than seventh in any of the three 500s he has started in. That’s despite his best qualifying only being 19th.
Romain Grosjean was the next-best Honda-powered car after Dixon, setting the fourth fastest lap.
Grosjean was followed by Pato O’Ward and NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson.
Testing continues into the afternoon and picks up again tomorrow.
| Pos | Name | Best |
| 1 | Scott Dixon | 225.622 |
| 2 | Scott McLaughlin | 223.984 |
| 3 | Santino Ferrucci | 223.053 |
| 4 | Romain Grosjean | 222.727 |
| 5 | Pato O’Ward | 222.660 |
| 6 | Jimmie Johnson | 222.255 |
| 7 | Alex Palou | 222.096 |
| 8 | Will Power | 221.936 |
| 9 | Takuma Sato | 221.920 |
| 10 | Helio Castroneves | 221.879 |
| 11 | Felix Rosenqvist | 221.776 |
| 12 | Dalton Kellett | 221.501 |
| 13 | JR Hildebrand | 221.475 |
| 14 | Colton Herta | 221.260 |
| 15 | Alexander Rossi | 221.192 |
| 16 | Josef Newgarden | 221.131 |
| 17 | Ed Carpenter | 221.060 |
| 18 | Simon Pagenaud | 221.047 |
| 19 | Conor Daly | 221.043 |
| 20 | Marcus Ericsson | 220.853 |
| 21 | Tony Kanaan | 220.411 |
| 22 | Rinus VeeKay | 220.227 |
| 23 | Graham Rahal | 219.831 |
| 24 | Jack Harvey | 218.877 |
