IndyCar: O’Ward tops Practice 1 for GMR Grand Prix
In the waning minutes of Practice 1 for the GMR Grand Prix all the drivers strapped on the soft red Firestone tires and the times came tumbling down.
Arrow McLaren Chevy driver Pato O’Ward turned a lap of 1m09.4981s to barely nip the RLL Honda of Christian Lundgaard by 0.0007s to lead the session.
“I’m happy to be here,” said O’Ward. “The start of a really busy month. So far we’ve had a strong start to the year. We’ve had a few near misses, I guess, on a couple wins we could have gotten here or there.
“All in all it’s been a very positive start compared to years past. I don’t think our approach is going to change much. We just need to, yeah, try and maximize this weekend, just like we’ve tried every other one, keep on going.”
Alex Palou was 3rd for Ganassi Racing ahead of Scott McLaughlin and Jack Harvey.
Colton Herta had to undergo and engine repair due to an oil leak and never turned a competitive lap.
Practice 1 Results
| Pos | No | Name | Time | Behind | Gap | FL | Laps | Speed | Engine | Tire | Team |
| 1 | 5 | Pato O’Ward | 1:09.4981 | 0.000s | 0.000s | 14 | 16 | 126.340 | Chevy | A | Arrow McLaren |
| 2 | 45 | Christian Lundgaard | 1:09.4988 | 0.0007 | 0.0007 | 26 | 31 | 126.339 | Honda | A | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 3 | 10 | Alex Palou | 1:09.5213 | 0.0232 | 0.0225 | 19 | 22 | 126.298 | Honda | A | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 4 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin | 1:09.5465 | 0.0484 | 0.0252 | 21 | 21 | 126.252 | Chevy | A | Team Penske |
| 5 | 30 | Jack Harvey | 1:09.5976 | 0.0995 | 0.0511 | 17 | 20 | 126.160 | Honda | A | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 6 | 6 | Felix Rosenqvist | 1:09.7152 | 0.2171 | 0.1176 | 15 | 19 | 125.947 | Chevy | A | Arrow McLaren |
| 7 | 8 | Marcus Ericsson | 1:09.7706 | 0.2725 | 0.0554 | 17 | 18 | 125.847 | Honda | A | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 8 | 9 | Scott Dixon | 1:09.7811 | 0.2830 | 0.0105 | 20 | 21 | 125.828 | Honda | A | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 9 | 12 | Will Power | 1:09.9494 | 0.4513 | 0.1683 | 19 | 23 | 125.525 | Chevy | A | Team Penske |
| 10 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay | 1:09.9595 | 0.4614 | 0.0101 | 17 | 21 | 125.507 | Chevy | A | Ed Carpenter Racing |
| 11 | 11 | Marcus Armstrong | 1:09.9771 | 0.4790 | 0.0176 | 27 | 30 | 125.475 | Honda | A | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 12 | 27 | Kyle Kirkwood | 1:09.9802 | 0.4821 | 0.0031 | 19 | 21 | 125.470 | Honda | A | Andretti Autosport |
| 13 | 15 | Graham Rahal | 1:10.0010 | 0.5029 | 0.0208 | 21 | 22 | 125.432 | Honda | A | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 14 | 20 | Conor Daly | 1:10.0138 | 0.5157 | 0.0128 | 21 | 23 | 125.410 | Chevy | A | Ed Carpenter Racing |
| 15 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | 1:10.0681 | 0.5700 | 0.0543 | 21 | 22 | 125.312 | Chevy | A | Team Penske |
| 16 | 28 | Romain Grosjean | 1:10.0800 | 0.5819 | 0.0119 | 20 | 24 | 125.291 | Honda | A | Andretti Autosport |
| 17 | 7 | Alexander Rossi | 1:10.1417 | 0.6436 | 0.0617 | 19 | 21 | 125.181 | Chevy | A | Arrow McLaren |
| 18 | 60 | Simon Pagenaud | 1:10.1975 | 0.6994 | 0.0558 | 21 | 24 | 125.081 | Honda | A | Meyer Shank Racing |
| 19 | 18 | David Malukas | 1:10.2324 | 0.7343 | 0.0349 | 18 | 19 | 125.019 | Honda | A | Dale Coyne Racing with HMD |
| 20 | 51 | Sting Ray Robb | 1:10.3928 | 0.8947 | 0.1604 | 24 | 26 | 124.734 | Honda | A | Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR |
| 21 | 77 | Callum Ilott | 1:10.4085 | 0.9104 | 0.0157 | 16 | 21 | 124.707 | Chevy | A | Juncos Hollinger Racing |
| 22 | 29 | Devlin DeFrancesco | 1:10.4150 | 0.9169 | 0.0065 | 21 | 25 | 124.695 | Honda | A | Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport |
| 23 | 06 | Helio Castroneves | 1:10.5015 | 1.0034 | 0.0865 | 14 | 16 | 124.542 | Honda | A | Meyer Shank Racing |
| 24 | 14 | Santino Ferrucci | 1:10.6467 | 1.1486 | 0.1452 | 19 | 19 | 124.286 | Chevy | A | AJ Foyt Enterprises |
| 25 | 55 | Benjamin Pedersen | 1:10.7691 | 1.2710 | 0.1224 | 28 | 31 | 124.071 | Chevy | A | AJ Foyt Enterprises |
| 26 | 78 | Agustin Canapino | 1:10.9736 | 1.4755 | 0.2045 | 26 | 27 | 123.714 | Chevy | A | Juncos Holling Racing |
| 27 | 26 | Colton Herta | No Time | — | — | 1 | 1 | — | Honda | P | Andretti Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian |