IndyCar: Rossi tops Practice 1 at Road America

Alexander Rossi turned a lap of 1m41.779s to top opening practice for the NTT IndyCar race at Road America.

Most of the top runners did not try to do a qualifying sim run yet, leaving David Malukas 2nd quick for Dale Coyne Racing, 0.0862s back.

Alex Palou was 3rd for Chip Ganassi Racing at 1m41.95s.

Palou’s teammate Marcus Ericsson was 4th while Christian Lundgaard rounded out the top-5 for the Rahal team.

There is much anticipation surrounding the NTT INDYCAR SERIES’ official debut on Road America’s new surface, completed in late October.

The repave was the first for the circuit since 1995, and speeds that year increased about 5 mph. More than 800 dump trucks of asphalt were removed, and officials went to considerable lengths to ensure the beloved course remained as unchanged as possible.

Before milling off the old surface, the entire course was surveyed to allow engineers and track officials to review the track’s unique characteristics and make decisions that guided the grade control process. More than 7,000 control points were set to direct the grading and paving process to ensure that the track width, camber angles and curbing locations were accurate within a tenth of an inch. Two paving machines ran side by side to minimize the center seam visibility.

The $4 million project included a renovation of pit lane, and the surface now has a considerably darker appearance. Based on recent testing, quicker lap times will follow, and they might be record-breaking.

But the drivers still were not perfectly happy with the nice repaving job. The curbing was not replaced when they did the surface.

Christian Lundgaard, driver of the No 45 Vivid Clear Rx entry for Rahal Letterman Lanigan, was vocal about this issue.

Christian Lundgaard Photo Courtesy of Penske Entertainment/Chris Owens

“Yeah, I mean, a smoother track is always nicer to drive on, for sure. I do feel like
they’ve done a good job on making the track smooth.”

“I do find it odd that you spend the money to resurface the track but not put new curbs down. Now, after the new pavement, it definitely looks needed, that the curbs should have been replaced as well.”

“But in general, the surface of the track is super smooth. It’s super grippy within the line. I’m pretty sure the teams and guys that tested here last week definitely helped increasing the grip.”

“I’m pretty sure every racing driver would prefer a smooth track than a bumpy track.”

Practice 1 Results

Pos	No	Name	Time	Behind	Gap	FL	Laps	Speed	Engine	Team
1	7	Alexander Rossi	1:41.7790	0.000s	0.000s	5	14	141.978	Chevy	Arrow McLaren
2	18	David Malukas	1:41.8652	0.0862	0.0862	4	16	141.858	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing with HMD
3	10	Alex Palou	1:41.9486	0.1696	0.0834	14	15	141.742	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
4	5	Pato O’Ward	1:41.9778	0.1988	0.0292	7	15	141.701	Chevy	Arrow McLaren
5	8	Marcus Ericsson	1:42.0426	0.2636	0.0648	14	14	141.611	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
6	45	Christian Lundgaard	1:42.0534	0.2744	0.0108	17	18	141.596	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
7	6	Felix Rosenqvist	1:42.0633	0.2843	0.0099	5	15	141.583	Chevy	Arrow McLaren
8	26	Colton Herta	1:42.0789	0.2999	0.0156	13	13	141.561	Honda	Andretti Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian
9	11	Marcus Armstrong	1:42.2146	0.4356	0.1357	17	20	141.373	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
10	15	Graham Rahal	1:42.3731	0.5941	0.1585	17	17	141.154	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
11	29	Devlin DeFrancesco	1:42.4372	0.6582	0.0641	14	14	141.066	Honda	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport
12	14	Santino Ferrucci	1:42.4680	0.6890	0.0308	16	17	141.024	Chevy	AJ Foyt Enterprises
13	51	Sting Ray Robb	1:42.5097	0.7307	0.0417	21	22	140.966	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR
14	3	Scott McLaughlin	1:42.5799	0.8009	0.0702	13	14	140.870	Chevy	Team Penske
15	9	Scott Dixon	1:42.5891	0.8101	0.0092	11	17	140.857	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
16	2	Josef Newgarden	1:42.6013	0.8223	0.0122	11	12	140.840	Chevy	Team Penske
17	12	Will Power	1:42.7382	0.9592	0.1369	14	15	140.653	Chevy	Team Penske
18	28	Romain Grosjean	1:42.8418	1.0628	0.1036	14	15	140.511	Honda	Andretti Autosport
19	27	Kyle Kirkwood	1:42.8773	1.0983	0.0355	12	13	140.462	Honda	Andretti Autosport
20	06	Helio Castroneves	1:43.0304	1.2514	0.1531	18	18	140.254	Honda	Meyer Shank Racing
21	78	Agustin Canapino	1:43.0679	1.2889	0.0375	16	17	140.203	Chevy	Juncos Holling Racing
22	30	Jack Harvey	1:43.1707	1.3917	0.1028	5	18	140.063	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
23	55	Benjamin Pedersen	1:43.2036	1.4246	0.0329	15	24	140.018	Chevy	AJ Foyt Enterprises
24	77	Callum Ilott	1:43.2368	1.4578	0.0332	12	14	139.973	Chevy	Juncos Hollinger Racing
25	21	Rinus VeeKay	1:43.3655	1.5865	0.1287	16	17	139.799	Chevy	Ed Carpenter Racing
26	20	Ryan Hunter-Reay	1:43.3849	1.6059	0.0194	15	16	139.773	Chevy	Ed Carpenter Racing
27	60	Simon Pagenaud	1:43.4092	1.6302	0.0243	15	15	139.740	Honda	Meyer Shank Racing