IndyCar: Palou tops opening practice for GP of Alabama

Segi sponsored No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda driver Alex Palou made an early first impression with his new team by turning the fastest lap in opening practice for the Grand Prix of Alabama. His time of 1m06.4721s beat Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta by just 0.0176s.

Josef Newgarden was the fastest Penske driver in 3rd, 0.0236s back.

Scott Dixon in the second Chip Ganassi Racing Honda was 4th while Pato O’Ward rounded out the top-5 in his #5 Arrow McLaren Chevy.

There were no notable incidents in the session, but Felix Rosenqvist did clout the barrier on the entrance to pit lane with his right-front, requiring repairs to the front suspension prior to the next practice session.

As expected, NASCAR hero Jimmie Johnson was dead last in the third Chip Ganassi entry as he continues to struggle to get competitive times out of an IndyCar.

Practice 1 Results

Pos	No	Name	Time	Diff	Gap	Laps	Speed	Engine	Team
1	10	Alex Palou	1:06.4721	0.000	0.000	18	124.564	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
2	26	Colton Herta	1:06.4897	0.0176	0.0176	16	124.531	Honda	Andretti Autosport
3	2	Josef Newgarden	1:06.4957	0.0236	0.0060	14	124.519	Chevy	Team Penske
4	9	Scott Dixon	1:06.5524	0.0803	0.0567	12	124.413	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
5	5	Pato O’Ward	1:06.6281	0.1560	0.0757	11	124.272	Chevy	Arrow McLaren SP
6	27	Alexander Rossi	1:06.6307	0.1586	0.0026	14	124.267	Honda	Andretti Autosport
7	12	Will Power	1:06.7341	0.2620	0.1034	16	124.074	Chevy	Team Penske
8	3	Scott McLaughlin	1:06.7499	0.2778	0.0158	17	124.045	Chevy	Team Penske
9	8	Marcus Ericsson	1:06.7999	0.3278	0.0500	18	123.952	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
10	7	Felix Rosenqvist	1:06.8435	0.3714	0.0436	10	123.871	Chevy	Arrow McLaren SP
11	20	Conor Daly	1:06.8699	0.3978	0.0264	17	123.823	Chevy	Ed Carpenter Racing
12	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	1:06.8777	0.4056	0.0078	14	123.808	Honda	Andretti Autosport
13	18	Ed Jones	1:07.0575	0.5854	0.1798	16	123.476	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan
14	29	James Hinchcliffe	1:07.1072	0.6351	0.0497	15	123.385	Honda	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport
15	14	Sebastien Bourdais	1:07.2310	0.7589	0.1238	12	123.157	Chevy	AJ Foyt Enterprises
16	22	Simon Pagenaud	1:07.2324	0.7603	0.0014	18	123.155	Chevy	Team Penske
17	60	Jack Harvey	1:07.2485	0.7764	0.0161	17	123.125	Honda	Meyer Shank Racing
18	15	Graham Rahal	1:07.3100	0.8379	0.0615	22	123.013	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
19	21	Rinus VeeKay	1:07.3157	0.8436	0.0057	17	123.003	Chevy	Ed Carpenter Racing
20	30	Takuma Sato	1:07.5349	1.0628	0.2192	18	122.603	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
21	51	Romain Grosjean	1:07.5534	1.0813	0.0185	19	122.570	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing
22	4	Dalton Kellett	1:07.7276	1.2555	0.1742	17	122.254	Chevy	AJ Foyt Enterprises
23	59	Max Chilton	1:07.7654	1.2933	0.0378	16	122.186	Chevy	Carlin
24	48	Jimmie Johnson	1:07.9509	1.4788	0.1855	22	121.853	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing