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IndyCar News: Palou tops Afternoon Practice at Thermal Club

Lucille Dust

Alex Palou, the Chip Ganassi No. 10 Ridgeline entry, set the fastest time in the afternoon practice session for the IndyCars at Thermal Club on Friday.

Palou’s lap of 1m39.3373s beat Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist by 0.4429s

Juncos Hollinger’s Romain Grosjean was the third fastest with a lap of 1:40.2255.

Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus Veekay was fourth fastest with a lap of 1:40.2255.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Christian Lundgaard rounded out the top five with a lap of 1:40.2914.

The drivers did not all run many laps this afternoon because the track temperature was 25 degrees warmer than this morning.   Tomorrow’s temperatures during qualifying should be more like the first practice session.

AR1 asked about the brake issue during today’s break. It was explained that the teams partly cover up the brake duct that feeds air to the braking system. This allows the brake disc to stay hotter and brake better, causing the brake fires we saw during the race in St. Petersburg and this morning in practice.

Practice 2 Results

Pos No Name Time Behind Gap FL Laps Speed Engine Team
1 10 Alex Palou 1:39.3373 0.000s 0.000s 14 15 111.149 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
2 60 Felix Rosenqvist 1:39.7802 0.4429 0.4429 29 29 110.655 Honda Meyer Shank Racing
3 77 Romain Grosjean 1:40.1490 0.8117 0.3688 21 28 110.248 Chevy Juncos Hollinger Racing
4 21 Rinus VeeKay 1:40.2255 0.8882 0.0765 17 18 110.164 Chevy Ed Carpenter Racing
5 45 Christian Lundgaard 1:40.2914 0.9541 0.0659 2 10 110.091 Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
6 12 Will Power 1:40.4601 1.1228 0.1687 10 24 109.906 Chevy Team Penske
7 2 Josef Newgarden 1:40.4876 1.1503 0.0275 18 18 109.876 Chevy Team Penske
8 11 Marcus Armstrong 1:40.5038 1.1665 0.0162 17 18 109.859 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
9 26 Colton Herta 1:40.5748 1.2375 0.0710 6 16 109.781 Honda Andretti Autosport w/Curb‑Agajanian
10 3 Scott McLaughlin 1:40.5823 1.2450 0.0075 8 25 109.773 Chevy Team Penske
11 78 Agustin Canapino 1:40.6359 1.2986 0.0536 22 26 109.714 Chevy Juncos Hollinger Racing
12 8 Linus Lundqvist 1:40.6637 1.3264 0.0278 18 22 109.684 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
13 27 Kyle Kirkwood 1:40.6948 1.3575 0.0311 19 20 109.650 Honda Andretti Autosport
14 14 Santino Ferrucci 1:40.7434 1.4061 0.0486 12 23 109.597 Chevy AJ Foyt Enterprises
15 9 Scott Dixon 1:40.8167 1.4794 0.0733 4 14 109.518 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
16 18 Nolan Siegel 1:40.8911 1.5538 0.0744 31 32 109.437 Honda Dale Coyne Racing
17 15 Graham Rahal 1:40.9549 1.6176 0.0638 22 23 109.368 Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
18 4 Kyffin Simpson 1:41.0749 1.7376 0.1200 38 38 109.238 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
19 30 Pietro Fittipaldi 1:41.1654 1.8281 0.0905 24 25 109.140 Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
20 28 Marcus Ericsson 1:41.2712 1.9339 0.1058 28 28 109.026 Honda Andretti Autosport
21 51 Colin Braun 1:41.2782 1.9409 0.0070 15 22 109.019 Honda Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR
22 66 Tom Blomqvist 1:41.4999 2.1626 0.2217 7 25 108.780 Honda Meyer Shank Racing
23 20 Christian Rasmussen 1:41.5453 2.2080 0.0454 19 23 108.732 Chevy Ed Carpenter Racing
24 5 Pato O’Ward 1:41.7447 2.4074 0.1994 2 16 108.519 Chevy Arrow McLaren
25 7 Alexander Rossi 1:41.8042 2.4669 0.0595 6 16 108.455 Chevy Arrow McLaren
26 41 Sting Ray Robb 1:41.9177 2.5804 0.1135 28 29 108.334 Chevy AJ Foyt Enterprises
27 6 Callum Ilott 1:42.0608 2.7235 0.1431 5 16 108.183 Chevy Arrow McLaren

Lucille Dust reporting live from the Thermal Club