Arrow McLaren driver Pato O'Ward
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IndyCar News: O’Ward tops Practice 1 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca

Lucille Dust

Arrow McLaren driver Pato O’Ward turned a lap of 1m09.2069s to top opening NTT IndyCar Series practice at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California.

O’Ward is going for his third straight IndyCar win, having won the last time out in Toronto and before that on the Iowa oval.

Colton Herta was 2nd fastest in the #26 Andretti Global Honda, 0.1104s behind O’Ward.

Marcus Armstrong was 3rd fastest in the #66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda, 0.1105s behind O’Ward’s Chevy.

Points leader Alex Palou put the #10 Ganassi DHL Honda in 4th, 0.16s behind O’Ward.

Alex Palou 2025 Java House Grand Prix of Monterey. Photo courtesy of Penske Entertainment

Callum Ilott rounded out the top-5 in his #90 Chevy, 0.4666s behind O’Ward.

Watch Alexander Rossi Wad up his Java House Chevy

There were many incidents in the practice session which caused red flags and the loss of five minutes of practice time for each driver.

Devlin DeFrancesco, driver of the No. 30 Mi-Jack Honda,  started the calamity by making contact in Turns 4 and 5, 38 minutes into the session.

Alexander Rossi, driver of the No 21 Liquid Science Chevrolet, made contact with the barrier in Turn 6.  The first part of the practice session was checkered.

 

Pato O’Ward Photo courtesy of Penske Entertainment: Joe Skibinski

Then the cars split into two groups and Group 1 and the rookies went out for 13 minutes with no incidents.  Pato O’Ward was fastest in the session.

Group 2 took to the track at five minutes later and ten minutes into the session, Josef Newgarden, driver of the No, 2 Astemo Team Penske, spun in Turn 8 and got stuck in the gravel.  This session was extended for one timed lap when the mess was cleared up.

Colton Herta, driver of the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda, was fastest in the final session.  The Andretti Global driver had won at this track twice and his father, Bryan Herta, won here twice in his career also.

2025 Java House Grand Prix of Monterey Practice 1 Results

POS NO. NAME TIME BEHIND GAP ENGINE SPEED LAPS
1 5 O’Ward, Pato 1m09.2069s 0.0000 0.0000 Chevy 116.416 18
2 26 Herta, Colton 1m09.3173s 0.1104 0.1104 Honda 116.231 16
3 66 Armstrong, Marcus 1m09.3174s 0.1105 0.0001 Honda 116.231 21
4 10 Palou, Alex 1m09.3679s 0.1610 0.0505 Honda 116.146 18
5 90 Ilott, Callum 1m09.6735s 0.4666 0.1738 Chevy 115.637 16
6 21 Rasmussen, Christian 1m09.6736s 0.4667 0.0001 Chevy 115.636 20
7 27 Kirkwood, Kyle 1m09.9007s 0.6938 0.2271 Honda 115.261 16
8 60 Rosenqvist, Felix 1m09.9132s 0.7063 0.0125 Honda 115.240 19
9 45 Foster, Louis (R) 1m09.9877s 0.7808 0.0745 Honda 115.117 29
10 7 Lundgaard, Christian 1m10.0684s 0.8615 0.0807 Chevy 114.985 17
11 4 Malukas, David 1m10.0998s 0.8929 0.0314 Chevy 114.933 17
12 18 Veekay, Rinus 1m10.1018s 0.8949 0.0020 Honda 114.930 20
13 8 Simpson, Kyffin 1m10.1051s 0.8982 0.0033 Honda 114.925 25
14 51 Abel, Jacob (R) 1m10.3020s 1.0951 0.1969 Honda 114.603 29
15 77 Robb, Sting Ray 1m10.3252s 1.1183 0.0232 Chevy 114.565 18
16 3 McLaughlin, Scott 1m10.3650s 1.1581 0.0398 Chevy 114.500 23
17 12 Power, Will 1m10.4472s 1.2403 0.0822 Chevy 114.367 22
18 28 Ericsson, Marcus 1m10.5658s 1.3589 0.1186 Honda 114.174 16
19 6 Siegel, Nolan 1m10.7586s 1.5517 0.1928 Chevy 113.863 20
20 83 Shwartzman, Robert (R) 1m10.7883s 1.5814 0.0297 Chevy 113.815 27
21 15 Rahal, Graham 1m10.8030s 1.5961 0.0147 Honda 113.792 23
22 76 Daly, Conor 1m10.8599s 1.6530 0.0569 Chevy 113.700 19
23 14 Ferrucci, Santino 1m10.8867s 1.6798 0.0268 Chevy 113.657 21
24 9 Dixon, Scott 1m11.0286s 1.8217 0.1419 Honda 113.430 19
25 30 DeFrancesco, Devlin 1m11.2379s 2.0310 0.2093 Honda 113.097 9
26 2 Newgarden, Josef 1m11.2512s 2.0443 0.0133 Chevy 113.076 19
27 20 Rossi, Alexander 1m11.6140s 2.4071 0.0041 Chevy 112.503 10

(R) Rookie

Lucille Dust reporting live from Laguna Seca