IndyCar News: Palou tops Morning Practice at Thermal Club
Alex Palou, the series 2023 Champion, set the fastest time in the opening practice session for the IndyCars at Thermal Club Friday.
Palou’s lap of 1m39.5149s beat Christian Lundgaard by 0.1825s
The brakes have been heating up due to the 17-turn track and a lot of braking. Marcus Ericsson, driver of the No 28 Andretti Global entry, even has his brakes start on fire while on track.
“We overdid some things on the brakes”, the Swede answered when asked what happened. “Maybe we tried too hard.”
“The tire deg is really high here. With that said, the races on Sunday should be hard keeping the tires under you.”
In the heats on Sunday, the teams will not be allowed to change tires during the 10 lap feature. In the final heat which will determine the winner, they are going to do 10 laps and then have a 10-minute halftime. The teams are allowed to make changes to the cars and add fuel, but are not allowed to change tires.
Thermal Club Practice 1 Results
| Pos | No | Name | Time | Behind | Gap | FL | Laps | Speed | Engine | Team |
| 1 | 10 | Alex Palou | 1:39.5149 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 4 | 24 | 110.950 | Honda | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 2 | 45 | Christian Lundgaard | 1:39.6974 | 0.1825 | 0.1825 | 4 | 17 | 110.747 | Honda | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 3 | 11 | Marcus Armstrong | 1:39.7313 | 0.2164 | 0.0339 | 4 | 15 | 110.709 | Honda | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 4 | 7 | Alexander Rossi | 1:39.7556 | 0.2407 | 0.0243 | 18 | 23 | 110.683 | Chevy | Arrow McLaren |
| 5 | 5 | Pato O’Ward | 1:39.9124 | 0.3975 | 0.1568 | 14 | 18 | 110.509 | Chevy | Arrow McLaren |
| 6 | 8 | Linus Lundqvist | 1:39.9197 | 0.4048 | 0.0073 | 24 | 25 | 110.501 | Honda | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 7 | 60 | Felix Rosenqvist | 1:39.9385 | 0.4236 | 0.0188 | 6 | 16 | 110.480 | Honda | Meyer Shank Racing |
| 8 | 12 | Will Power | 1:40.0260 | 0.5111 | 0.0875 | 5 | 12 | 110.383 | Chevy | Team Penske |
| 9 | 6 | Callum Ilott | 1:40.0821 | 0.5672 | 0.0561 | 3 | 20 | 110.321 | Chevy | Arrow McLaren |
| 10 | 9 | Scott Dixon | 1:40.1103 | 0.5954 | 0.0282 | 4 | 21 | 110.290 | Honda | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 11 | 77 | Romain Grosjean | 1:40.1862 | 0.6713 | 0.0759 | 6 | 14 | 110.207 | Chevy | Juncos Hollinger Racing |
| 12 | 28 | Marcus Ericsson | 1:40.2235 | 0.7086 | 0.0373 | 5 | 16 | 110.166 | Honda | Andretti Autosport |
| 13 | 26 | Colton Herta | 1:40.2876 | 0.7727 | 0.0641 | 4 | 15 | 110.095 | Honda | Andretti Autosport w/Curb Agajanian |
| 14 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay | 1:40.3534 | 0.8385 | 0.0658 | 4 | 16 | 110.023 | Chevy | Ed Carpenter Racing |
| 15 | 27 | Kyle Kirkwood | 1:40.3584 | 0.8435 | 0.0050 | 4 | 19 | 110.018 | Honda | Andretti Autosport |
| 16 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin | 1:40.3930 | 0.8781 | 0.0346 | 5 | 16 | 109.980 | Chevy | Team Penske |
| 17 | 14 | Santino Ferrucci | 1:40.6588 | 1.1439 | 0.2658 | 20 | 20 | 109.689 | Chevy | AJ Foyt Enterprises |
| 18 | 20 | Christian Rasmussen | 1:40.6729 | 1.1580 | 0.0141 | 24 | 25 | 109.674 | Chevy | Ed Carpenter Racing |
| 19 | 78 | Agustin Canapino | 1:40.8049 | 1.2900 | 0.1320 | 12 | 17 | 109.530 | Chevy | Juncos Hollinger Racing |
| 20 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | 1:40.9393 | 1.4244 | 0.1344 | 8 | 13 | 109.385 | Chevy | Team Penske |
| 21 | 30 | Pietro Fittipaldi | 1:41.0314 | 1.5165 | 0.0921 | 19 | 21 | 109.285 | Honda | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 22 | 15 | Graham Rahal | 1:41.0449 | 1.5300 | 0.0135 | 5 | 19 | 109.270 | Honda | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 23 | 4 | Kyffin Simpson | 1:41.0819 | 1.5670 | 0.0370 | 23 | 32 | 109.230 | Honda | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 24 | 66 | Tom Blomqvist | 1:41.3837 | 1.8688 | 0.3018 | 12 | 22 | 108.905 | Honda | Meyer Shank Racing |
| 25 | 51 | Colin Braun | 1:41.5316 | 2.0167 | 0.1479 | 24 | 24 | 108.746 | Honda | Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR |
| 26 | 18 | Nolan Siegel | 1:41.6872 | 2.1723 | 0.1556 | 21 | 25 | 108.580 | Honda | Dale Coyne Racing |
| 27 | 41 | Sting Ray Robb | 1:41.8920 | 2.3771 | 0.2048 | 4 | 15 | 108.362 | Chevy | AJ Foyt Enterprises |