Scott McLaughlin has emerged atop the leaderboard in an IndyCar test featuring 16 competitors at Barber Motorsport Park yesterday.
Clocking in with a best lap of 1:06.222 was enough for the the Kiwi to lead home teammate Will Power by two tenths for a Team Penske one-two.
McLaughlin clocked a mammoth 104 laps of the 3.808km circuit, the most of any competitor.
Both Marcus Armstrong and Scott Dixon also took part in the session for Chip Ganassi Racing. Armstrong continued to impress in his code switch and set the sixth fastest time of the day, eclipsing several IndyCar veterans including Marcus Ericsson, Dixon and Helio Castroneves.
The young Kiwi put in 82 laps of the Alabama circuit to set a best time of 1:06.766, backing up his strong pace shown at St. Petersburg despite involvement in an early incident.
Dixon finished third in that same event but was tenth in yesterday’s test, his 1:06.805 putting him in the midst of an extremely tight mid-field pack.
Jack Harvey, who was taken to hospital following a massive pileup on the Streets of St. Petersburg, wasn’t cleared by IndyCar’s medical team to take part in the session, the Brit forced to hand the wheel to Armstrong’s former F2 rival Juri Vips.
Christian Lundgaard was the driver who put pressure on the two Penske-Chevrolets up front, classified third ahead of top-placed CGR racer Alex Palou.
Josef Newgarden made it three Team Penske cars in the top five despite running with an illness. He still managed to se the fifth best time but completed roughly half the laps compared to his rivals.
The field will now pack up and make the journey towards Texas for the PPG 375 on April 2. McLaughlin and Dixon will both be back in action with Armstrong to sit out due to only competing on road and street courses.
The field then heads to California for the Grand Prix of Long Beach before trekking back to Barber for Round 4’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix.
IndyCar Barber Motorsport Park test
| Driver | Best Time | Laps | |
| 1 | Scott McLaughlin | 1:06.570 | 104 |
| 2 | Will Power | 1:06.429 | 97 |
| 3 | Christian Lundgaard | 1:06.525 | 81 |
| 4 | Alex Palou | 1:06.570 | 72 |
| 5 | Josef Newgarden | 1:06.752 | 46 |
| 6 | Marcus Armstrong | 1:06.766 | 82 |
| 7 | David Malukas | 1:06.775 | 93 |
| 8 | Marcus Ericsson | 1:06.779 | 40 |
| 9 | Graham Rahal | 1:06.786 | 79 |
| 10 | Scott Dixon | 1:06.805 | 76 |
| 11 | Helio Castroneves | 1:07.147 | 83 |
| 12 | Benjamin Pedersen | 1:07.239 | 96 |
| 13 | Juri Vips | 1:07.466 | 91 |
| 14 | Agustin Canapino | 1:07.551 | 84 |
| 15 | Sting Rayy Robb | 1:07.580 | 93 |
| 16 | Simon Pagenaud | 1:07.674 | 92 |
Header Image: Scott McLaughlin (Facebook)
