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IndyCar: Rossi tops Practice 1 at Road America

Lucille Dust

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