Marcus Ericsson Photo courtesy of Penske Entertainment: Joe Skibinski

IndyCar News: Marcus Ericsson tops opening practice at Barber

Andretti Global Honda driver Marcus Ericsson turned a lap of 1m07.7470s to top opening NTT IndyCar practice at Barber Motorsports Park Friday afternoon.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

With rain forecast for Saturday, today’s practice session was particularly important.

Points leader Alex Palou was 2nd in the #10 Ganassi Honda, 0.0132s behind Ericsson.

Ericsson’s Andretti teammate Colton Herta was 3rd fastest, just 0.0258s behind the Swede.

Two time winner here, Will Power was fourth fastest in his #12 Penske Chevy, 0.0399s behind Ericsson.

Alexander Rossi was rounded out the top-5 for Ed Carpenter Racing, 0.0628s behind Ericsson.

Josef Newgarden was 6th in the #2 Penske Chevy, 0.1197s behind Ericsson.

Indy NXT

Dennis Hauger continued the impressive start to his INDY NXT by Firestone career by leading practice Friday for the Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park.

Andretti Global rookie Hauger, from Norway, was quickest in the 45-minute session with a lap of 1 minute, 12.1621 seconds in the No. 28 Rental Group car. Formula 2 race winner Hauger won the pole and led every lap of the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 2.

“It was a good run,” Hauger said. “As a team, we seem strong today. I think we still have some things to work on and feel like there was still some time in there for me. But a good start, and it’s good to see we sort of left off where we ended in St. Pete.”

Caio Collet, in his second season in the INDYCAR development series, was second at 1:12.4694 in the No. 76 HMD Motorsports machine. Veteran teammate Josh Pierson ended up third at 1:12.7627 in the No. 14 HMD Motorsports car.

Rookie Lochie Hughes clocked in fourth at 1:12.7689 in the No. 26 McGinley Clinic/USF Pro Championship car. Hughes finished second to Andretti Global teammate Hauger in his series debut at St. Petersburg.

Andretti Global ended up with all four of its drivers in the top six of the time sheets. Veteran Salvador de Alba was the third Andretti driver in the top five, as he ended up at 1:12.7865 in the No. 27 Grupo Indi car. Andretti Global veteran James Roe was sixth at 1:12.8097 in the No. 29 Topcon machine.

There was one incident with contact that triggered a red flag 19 minutes into the session. Rookie Evagoras Papasavvas, making his first series start, nosed into the tire barrier in the final turn of the 17-turn, 2.3-mile natural-terrain road course in the No. 24 HMD Motorsports car. He was unhurt.

2025 Barber IndyCar Practice 1 Results

Rank

Car

Driver Name

Engine

Time

Speed

Diff

Gap

Best Lap

Total Laps

1

28

Ericsson, Marcus

Honda

1m07.7470

122.219

–.—-

–.—-

15

26

2

10

Palou, Alex

Honda

1m07.7602

122.196

0.0132

0.0132

27

28

3

26

Herta, Colton

Honda

1m07.7728

122.173

0.0258

0.0126

12

15

4

12

Power, Will

Chevy

1m07.7869

122.147

0.0399

0.0141

22

22

5

20

Rossi, Alexander

Chevy

1m07.8098

122.106

0.0628

0.0126

18

19

6

2

Newgarden, Josef

Chevy

1m07.8667

122.004

0.1197

0.0569

21

22

7

30

DeFrancesco, Devlin

Honda

1m07.9302

121.890

0.1832

0.0635

15

25

8

3

McLaughlin, Scott

Chevy

1m08.0680

121.643

0.3210

0.1378

20

21

9

6

Siegel, Nolan

Chevy

1m08.0823

121.618

0.3353

0.0143

17

24

10

9

Dixon, Scott

Honda

1m08.0960

121.593

0.3490

0.0137

18

18

11

27

Kirkwood, Kyle

Honda

1m08.1510

121.495

0.4040

0.0550

18

21

12

14

Ferrucci, Santino

Chevy

1m08.1808

121.442

0.4338

0.0298

13

24

13

7

Lundgaard, Christian

Chevy

1m08.1954

121.416

0.4484

0.0146

18

22

14

5

O’Ward, Pato

Chevy

1m08.2134

121.384

0.4664

0.0180

23

26

15

45

Foster, Louis (R)

Honda

1m08.2194

121.373

0.4724

0.0060

17

27

16

66

Armstrong, Marcus

Honda

1m08.2628

121.296

0.5158

0.0434

19

22

17

60

Rosenqvist, Felix

Honda

1m08.3448

121.150

0.5978

0.0820

21

22

18

15

Rahal, Graham

Honda

1m08.3549

121.133

0.6079

0.0101

19

19

19

76

Daly, Conor

Chevy

1m08.3853

121.079

0.6383

0.0304

17

21

20

21

Rasmussen, Christian

Chevy

1m08.4956

120.884

0.7486

0.1103

18

23

21

90

Ilott, Callum

Chevy

1m08.5364

120.812

0.7894

0.0408

18

19

22

4

Malukas, David

Chevy

1m08.5594

120.771

0.8124

0.0230

22

22

23

18

Veekay, Rinus

Honda

1m08.6517

120.609

0.9047

0.0923

16

16

24

77

Robb, Sting Ray

Chevy

1m08.8014

120.346

1.0544

0.1497

15

19

25

8

Simpson, Kyffin

Honda

1m08.8597

120.244

1.1127

0.0583

12

19

26

83

Shwartzman, Robert (R)

Chevy

1m09.4929

119.149

1.7459

0.6332

24

26

27

51

Abel, Jacob (R)

Honda

1m09.5098

119.120

1.7628

0.0169

18

27

(R) Rookie