IndyCar News: Lundgaard nips Palou to top Practic1 in Portland

Christian Lundgaard (pictured) led the opening practice Friday for the BITNILE.COM Grand Prix of Portland NTT IndyCar Series race, edging Alex Palou.

Lundgaard turned the quickest lap overall, 58.5320 seconds, at Portland International Raceway in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Palou was second in the 80-minute session divided into groups with a best lap of 58.5381 seconds in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, a gap of just 0.0061 of a second because the cars are all spec.

The NTT INDYCAR SERIES is racing this weekend on the 12-turn, 1.964-mile road course in the shadow of Mount Hood after a weekend off followed five races in four consecutive weekends. Three races remain in the 2025 season, all taking place over the next four weekends.

“We need to continue that momentum,” Lundgaard said. “It’s been really nice for everybody to have a nice little weekend off. Regroup, recharge. We all needed that week off.

“If we can execute this weekend and carry this momentum, then we can have a good end to the season.”

Palou kept pace with Lundgaard to open a weekend in which he can clinch his third series championship in a row and his fourth in the last five years. Palou, who has won eight of 14 races this season, leads Pato O’Ward by 121 points in the standings and only needs to lead by 108 after Sunday’s race (3 p.m. ET, FOX, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network) to win the Astor Challenge Cup.

Felix Rosenqvist produced a strong start to the weekend, ending up third at 58.6589 in the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda fielded by Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian and once again sporting a popular tie-dye Grateful Dead livery. Graham Rahal, the pole winner at this race in 2023, was fourth at 58.6879 in the No. 15 Hendrickson International Honda of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

Josef Newgarden rounded out the top five at 58.7126 in the No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet.

O’Ward, the only driver mathematically eligible for the title besides Palou, clocked in at ninth with his best lap of 58.7981 in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.

Six-time INDYCAR SERIES champion Scott Dixon went off track in Turn 11 early in the session in his No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, triggering the one of two red flags in the practice. He was able to continue and ended up 11th overall.

Colton Herta, the pole winner here in 2019, missed more than half of the session with a technical problem discovered during his out lap in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda. He was 13th overall out of the 27 cars competing this weekend.

Saturday will be a busy day of on-track action. Up first is pre-qualifying practice at noon ET followed by NTT P1 Award qualifying at 2:30 p.m. ET and final practice at 7:30 p.m. ET. FS1, the FOX Sports app and the INDYCAR Radio Network will broadcast all three sessions live.

BITNILE.com GP of Portland Practice 1 Results

(R) Rookie