IndyCar News: Palou tops Afternoon Practice at Thermal Club

Alex Palou, the Chip Ganassi No. 10 Ridgeline entry, set the fastest time in the afternoon practice session for the IndyCars at Thermal Club on Friday.

Palou’s lap of 1m39.3373s beat Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist by 0.4429s

Juncos Hollinger’s Romain Grosjean was the third fastest with a lap of 1:40.2255.

Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus Veekay was fourth fastest with a lap of 1:40.2255.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Christian Lundgaard rounded out the top five with a lap of 1:40.2914.

The drivers did not all run many laps this afternoon because the track temperature was 25 degrees warmer than this morning. Tomorrow’s temperatures during qualifying should be more like the first practice session.

AR1 asked about the brake issue during today’s break. It was explained that the teams partly cover up the brake duct that feeds air to the braking system. This allows the brake disc to stay hotter and brake better, causing the brake fires we saw during the race in St. Petersburg and this morning in practice.

Practice 2 Results

Pos	No	Name	Time	Behind	Gap	FL	Laps	Speed	Engine	Team
1	10	Alex Palou	1:39.3373	0.000s	0.000s	14	15	111.149	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
2	60	Felix Rosenqvist	1:39.7802	0.4429	0.4429	29	29	110.655	Honda	Meyer Shank Racing
3	77	Romain Grosjean	1:40.1490	0.8117	0.3688	21	28	110.248	Chevy	Juncos Hollinger Racing
4	21	Rinus VeeKay	1:40.2255	0.8882	0.0765	17	18	110.164	Chevy	Ed Carpenter Racing
5	45	Christian Lundgaard	1:40.2914	0.9541	0.0659	2	10	110.091	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
6	12	Will Power	1:40.4601	1.1228	0.1687	10	24	109.906	Chevy	Team Penske
7	2	Josef Newgarden	1:40.4876	1.1503	0.0275	18	18	109.876	Chevy	Team Penske
8	11	Marcus Armstrong	1:40.5038	1.1665	0.0162	17	18	109.859	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
9	26	Colton Herta	1:40.5748	1.2375	0.0710	6	16	109.781	Honda	Andretti Autosport w/Curb‑Agajanian
10	3	Scott McLaughlin	1:40.5823	1.2450	0.0075	8	25	109.773	Chevy	Team Penske
11	78	Agustin Canapino	1:40.6359	1.2986	0.0536	22	26	109.714	Chevy	Juncos Hollinger Racing
12	8	Linus Lundqvist	1:40.6637	1.3264	0.0278	18	22	109.684	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
13	27	Kyle Kirkwood	1:40.6948	1.3575	0.0311	19	20	109.650	Honda	Andretti Autosport
14	14	Santino Ferrucci	1:40.7434	1.4061	0.0486	12	23	109.597	Chevy	AJ Foyt Enterprises
15	9	Scott Dixon	1:40.8167	1.4794	0.0733	4	14	109.518	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
16	18	Nolan Siegel	1:40.8911	1.5538	0.0744	31	32	109.437	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing
17	15	Graham Rahal	1:40.9549	1.6176	0.0638	22	23	109.368	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
18	4	Kyffin Simpson	1:41.0749	1.7376	0.1200	38	38	109.238	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
19	30	Pietro Fittipaldi	1:41.1654	1.8281	0.0905	24	25	109.140	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
20	28	Marcus Ericsson	1:41.2712	1.9339	0.1058	28	28	109.026	Honda	Andretti Autosport
21	51	Colin Braun	1:41.2782	1.9409	0.0070	15	22	109.019	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR
22	66	Tom Blomqvist	1:41.4999	2.1626	0.2217	7	25	108.780	Honda	Meyer Shank Racing
23	20	Christian Rasmussen	1:41.5453	2.2080	0.0454	19	23	108.732	Chevy	Ed Carpenter Racing
24	5	Pato O’Ward	1:41.7447	2.4074	0.1994	2	16	108.519	Chevy	Arrow McLaren
25	7	Alexander Rossi	1:41.8042	2.4669	0.0595	6	16	108.455	Chevy	Arrow McLaren
26	41	Sting Ray Robb	1:41.9177	2.5804	0.1135	28	29	108.334	Chevy	AJ Foyt Enterprises
27	6	Callum Ilott	1:42.0608	2.7235	0.1431	5	16	108.183	Chevy	Arrow McLaren

Lucille Dust reporting live from the Thermal Club