IndyCar: Rossi leads Andretti 1-2 in opening practice at Road America

Alexander Rossi, after a strong performance last weekend in the Detroit GP, turned a lap of 1m45.6027s to lead IndyCar opening practice on the 4.0-mile Road Course in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

Rossi usually runs good at this track, having led 54 of 55 laps in dominating fashion in 2019.

Rossi’s Andretti teammate Colton Herta was 2nd quick, 0.1334s behind Rossi.

Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson made it a Honda 1-2-3 in his #8 Ganassi Honda.

Last week’s winner in Detroit Will Power was the fastest Chevy in 4th while another Honda, that of Alex Palou rounded out the top-5 0.3113s behind.

“Yeah, it was good,” Rossi said of the first-day Road America practice. “It’s a bit weird to have (the use of) the Firestone (Firehawk) alternate tires on Day 1, so it will be interesting to see how that translates to practice and qualifying (Saturday). The track evolution will continue to get better every session of the weekend.

“Obviously, the car rolled off really strong, which is positive on these weekends where it’s so close you’ve got to start from a good point.”

“I love this place,” he said. “I think it’s one of the top five road courses in the world in my book. It’s got everything. It’s just a joy to drive around here.

“It’s a beautiful part of the world, the people are great, the fan turnout is awesome, the weather usually is pretty good, so all A-pluses in my book.”

Friday’s practice was slowed only once, for a spin of the No. 06 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda of Meyer Shank Racing driver Helio Castroneves.

The two woman in the field, Tatiana Calderon and Simona de Silvestro brought up the back of the field, 26th and 27th respectively, though admittedly they are not in the best equipment.

Practice 1 Results

Pos No Name Time Diff Gap Laps Speed Engine Team
1 27 Alexander Rossi 1:45.6027 0.000s 0.000s 13 136.837 Honda Andretti Autosport
2 26 Colton Herta 1:45.7361 0.1334 0.1334 14 136.665 Honda Andretti Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian
3 8 Marcus Ericsson 1:45.8050 0.2023 0.0689 15 136.576 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
4 12 Will Power 1:45.8592 0.2565 0.0542 14 136.506 Chevy Team Penske
5 10 Alex Palou 1:45.9140 0.3113 0.0548 17 136.435 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
6 3 Scott McLaughlin 1:45.9316 0.3289 0.0176 15 136.413 Chevy Team Penske
7 9 Scott Dixon 1:46.0494 0.4467 0.1178 15 136.261 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
8 2 Josef Newgarden 1:46.0594 0.4567 0.0100 14 136.248 Chevy Team Penske
9 60 Simon Pagenaud 1:46.1108 0.5081 0.0514 15 136.182 Honda Meyer Shank Racing
10 5 Pato O’Ward 1:46.3426 0.7399 0.2318 14 135.885 Chevy Arrow McLaren SP
11 29 Devlin DeFrancesco 1:46.3834 0.7807 0.0408 21 135.833 Honda Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport
12 7 Felix Rosenqvist 1:46.5185 0.9158 0.1351 13 135.661 Chevy Arrow McLaren SP
13 30 Christian Lundgaard 1:46.5510 0.9483 0.0325 20 135.620 Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
14 28 Romain Grosjean 1:46.6454 1.0427 0.0944 17 135.500 Honda Andretti Autosport
15 77 Callum Ilott 1:46.7679 1.1652 0.1225 16 135.344 Chevy Juncos Hollinger Racing
16 45 Jack Harvey 1:46.9495 1.3468 0.1816 14 135.114 Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
17 20 Conor Daly 1:46.9676 1.3649 0.0181 16 135.091 Chevy Ed Carpenter Racing
18 15 Graham Rahal 1:46.9721 1.3694 0.0045 13 135.086 Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
19 51 Takuma Sato 1:47.0431 1.4404 0.0710 15 134.996 Honda Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR
20 18 David Malukas 1:47.2820 1.6793 0.2389 17 134.695 Honda Dale Coyne Racing with HMD
21 14 Kyle Kirkwood 1:47.2981 1.6954 0.0161 19 134.675 Chevy AJ Foyt Enterprises
22 21 Rinus VeeKay 1:47.7352 2.1325 0.4371 11 134.129 Chevy Ed Carpenter Racing
23 48 Jimmie Johnson 1:47.7692 2.1665 0.0340 22 134.087 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
24 4 Dalton Kellett 1:48.0727 2.4700 0.3035 16 133.710 Chevy AJ Foyt Enterprises
25 06 Helio Castroneves 1:48.1719 2.5692 0.0992 12 133.587 Honda Meyer Shank Racing
26 11 Tatiana Calderon 1:48.6710 3.0683 0.4991 13 132.974 Chevy AJ Foyt Enterprises
27 16 Simona De Silvestro 1:48.7490 3.1463 0.0780 20 132.878 Chevy Paretta Autosport