IndyCar: Lundgaard Tops opening practice in Portland

Christian Lundgaard in his RLL Honda turned a lap of 58.1776s to lead opening practice for the Bitnile.com GP of Portland NTT IndyCar race.

Andretti Autosport’s Kyle Kirkwood was 2nd quick 0.147s in his #27 Honda.

“The 45 Hy-Vee Honda car is fast, but I think we knew that coming in here,” Lundgaard said. “It’s just nice to have it proven once again. We seem to be very strong on road courses, and I can’t think this team enough for the progress that we’re making on certain tracks.

“I’m a little disappointed in some of the performances we have, but it’s looking promising, and I think we’re there.”

Kirkwood, also in his second season like Lundgaard, has won two races this season, at Long Beach and Nashville.

Championship leader Alex Palou was third at 58.3555 in the No. 10 The American Legion Honda of Chip Ganassi Racing. Palou, who leads teammate and closest pursuer Scott Dixon by 74 points, only needs to lead by 54 after this race to clinch his second title in the last three seasons.

Arrow McLaren drivers took the fourth and fifth spots on the time sheet in the 75-minute session, which was slowed by three red flags for minor incidents. Pato O’Ward was fourth at 58.4098 in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, while Felix Rosenqvist ended up fifth at 58.6428 in the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.

Dixon, the only driver who can catch Palou for the title, ended up 19th out of 27 drivers at 59.0457 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

INDYCAR Announces Portland Grid Penalty

INDYCAR officials have announced a six-position starting grid penalty for the No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing entry (Ryan Hunter-Reay) for an unapproved engine change following the Sunday, Aug. 27 race at World Wide Technology Raceway.

The team was in violation of:

Rule 16.2.3.2 A fifth (5^th) Engine is eligible to earn Engine Manufacturer points if a Full Season Entrant has completed the Full Season Entrant Engine Mileage with its first four (4) Engines. Otherwise, a fifth (5^th) or more Engine does not earn Engine Manufacturer points and will be considered an Unapproved Engine change-out.

According to Rule 16.6.1.2, the penalty is a six-position starting grid penalty on road and street course events and nine positions at oval events and will be served at the series’ next event, which is the BITNILE.COM Grand Prix of Portland Sunday, Sept. 3 at Portland International Raceway.

Practice 1 Results

Pos	No	Name	Time	Behind	Laps
1	45	Christian Lundgaard	58.1776	0.000s	39
2	27	Kyle Kirkwood	58.3246	0.1470	18
3	10	Alex Palou	58.3555	0.1779	25
4	5	Pato O’Ward	58.4098	0.2322	26
5	6	Felix Rosenqvist	58.6428	0.4652	28
6	18	David Malukas	58.7099	0.5323	23
7	28	Romain Grosjean	58.7253	0.5477	29
8	21	Rinus VeeKay	58.7345	0.5569	33
9	7	Alexander Rossi	58.7556	0.5780	28
10	2	Josef Newgarden	58.7733	0.5957	32
11	29	Devlin DeFrancesco	58.8302	0.6526	25
12	8	Marcus Ericsson	58.8507	0.6731	27
13	11	Marcus Armstrong	58.9347	0.7571	37
14	77	Callum Ilott	58.9370	0.7594	25
15	30	Juri Vips	59.0217	0.8441	39
16	3	Scott McLaughlin	59.0229	0.8453	25
17	12	Will Power	59.0254	0.8478	28
18	15	Graham Rahal	59.0284	0.8508	26
19	9	Scott Dixon	59.0457	0.8681	25
20	26	Colton Herta	59.0620	0.8844	25
21	06	Helio Castroneves	59.0747	0.8971	23
22	78	Agustin Canapino	59.2953	1.1177	35
23	55	Benjamin Pedersen	59.3653	1.1877	41
24	20	Ryan Hunter‑Reay	59.6188	1.4412	27
25	14	Santino Ferrucci	59.6500	1.4724	28
26	51	Sting Ray Robb	59.6838	1.5062	28
27	60	Tom Blomqvist	59.8418	1.6642	35