IndyCar: Palou tops opening practice for GP of Alabama

Segi sponsored No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda driver Alex Palou made an early first impression with his new team by turning the fastest lap in opening practice for the Grand Prix of Alabama. His time of 1m06.4721s beat Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta by just 0.0176s.

Josef Newgarden was the fastest Penske driver in 3rd, 0.0236s back.

Scott Dixon in the second Chip Ganassi Racing Honda was 4th while Pato O’Ward rounded out the top-5 in his #5 Arrow McLaren Chevy.

There were no notable incidents in the session, but Felix Rosenqvist did clout the barrier on the entrance to pit lane with his right-front, requiring repairs to the front suspension prior to the next practice session.

As expected, NASCAR hero Jimmie Johnson was dead last in the third Chip Ganassi entry as he continues to struggle to get competitive times out of an IndyCar.

Practice 1 Results

Pos No Name Time Diff Gap Laps Speed Engine Team
1 10 Alex Palou 1:06.4721 0.000 0.000 18 124.564 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
2 26 Colton Herta 1:06.4897 0.0176 0.0176 16 124.531 Honda Andretti Autosport
3 2 Josef Newgarden 1:06.4957 0.0236 0.0060 14 124.519 Chevy Team Penske
4 9 Scott Dixon 1:06.5524 0.0803 0.0567 12 124.413 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
5 5 Pato O’Ward 1:06.6281 0.1560 0.0757 11 124.272 Chevy Arrow McLaren SP
6 27 Alexander Rossi 1:06.6307 0.1586 0.0026 14 124.267 Honda Andretti Autosport
7 12 Will Power 1:06.7341 0.2620 0.1034 16 124.074 Chevy Team Penske
8 3 Scott McLaughlin 1:06.7499 0.2778 0.0158 17 124.045 Chevy Team Penske
9 8 Marcus Ericsson 1:06.7999 0.3278 0.0500 18 123.952 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
10 7 Felix Rosenqvist 1:06.8435 0.3714 0.0436 10 123.871 Chevy Arrow McLaren SP
11 20 Conor Daly 1:06.8699 0.3978 0.0264 17 123.823 Chevy Ed Carpenter Racing
12 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay 1:06.8777 0.4056 0.0078 14 123.808 Honda Andretti Autosport
13 18 Ed Jones 1:07.0575 0.5854 0.1798 16 123.476 Honda Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan
14 29 James Hinchcliffe 1:07.1072 0.6351 0.0497 15 123.385 Honda Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport
15 14 Sebastien Bourdais 1:07.2310 0.7589 0.1238 12 123.157 Chevy AJ Foyt Enterprises
16 22 Simon Pagenaud 1:07.2324 0.7603 0.0014 18 123.155 Chevy Team Penske
17 60 Jack Harvey 1:07.2485 0.7764 0.0161 17 123.125 Honda Meyer Shank Racing
18 15 Graham Rahal 1:07.3100 0.8379 0.0615 22 123.013 Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
19 21 Rinus VeeKay 1:07.3157 0.8436 0.0057 17 123.003 Chevy Ed Carpenter Racing
20 30 Takuma Sato 1:07.5349 1.0628 0.2192 18 122.603 Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
21 51 Romain Grosjean 1:07.5534 1.0813 0.0185 19 122.570 Honda Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing
22 4 Dalton Kellett 1:07.7276 1.2555 0.1742 17 122.254 Chevy AJ Foyt Enterprises
23 59 Max Chilton 1:07.7654 1.2933 0.0378 16 122.186 Chevy Carlin
24 48 Jimmie Johnson 1:07.9509 1.4788 0.1855 22 121.853 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing