Reigning IndyCar Series Champion Alex Palou led the way in this morning’s opening practice for the Detroit Grand Prix, topping a red-flag-interrupted session with a 1:01.7210 flyer around the nine-turn, 1.645-mile street circuit.
“It was busy,” Palou said. “I visited the run-off areas a couple of times here and there, just trying to find the limit and the grip of the track. The track is grippier, a lot grippier, than last year. Pretty happy. The car feels good so far.”
The Chip Ganassi driver’s time was just 0.0105 seconds faster than McLaren’s Pato O’Ward. Colton Herta completed the top three, 0.0758 seconds off the day’s fastest time.
Kyle Kirkwood was fourth quickest, with less than one-tenth separating the top four cars.
Indy 500 pole-sitter Scott McLaughlin was the fastest Kiwi, setting the fifth-fastest time with a 1:02.0959 to top his Indy 500 winning teammate Josef Newgarden by just over one-tenth of a second.
Marcus Armstrong was eighth overall with a 1:02.4307, while Scott Dixon was 12th, with his best time of 1:02.7007.
Four-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves replaces Tom Blomqvist at Meyer Shank Racing for the next two rounds and was 22nd fastest in practice.
Less than 15 minutes remained in the session when Jack Harvey clipped the left barrier at Turn 7, bouncing across the track and hitting the right barrier. Harvey was unhurt.
IndyCar returns for Practice 2 at 1.00 am on Sunday (NZST), with qualifying following at 4.15 am. Coverage of the Detroit Grand Prix begins at 4.00 am on Monday, live on Sky Sport.
Header Image: Penske Entertainment: Paul Hurley
