IndyCar News: David Malukas tops Opening practice at WWTR

Meyer Shank Racing’s David Malukas was quickest during Friday’s hour-long practice session to open the Bommarito automotive Group 500 weekend at Worldwide Technology Raceway (WWTR or Gateway) in Madison, Illinois.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

The driver of the No. 66 Honda powered car posted a best lap of 178.830 mph (25.1635 seconds) on the 1.25-mile oval.

Andretti Global’s Colton Herta, whose team shares a technical alliance with MSR, was second-quickest, 0.0591 of a second off Malukas’ best lap.

Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin, who won the pole for last year’s race, was the fastest Chevrolet entry in third, behind the Honda duo.

McLaughlin’s teammate and 2018 Gateway winner Will Power was fourth, while points leader Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing rounded out the top-5.

Charter System

Penske Entertainment has sent a formal charter system proposal for its team owners to review & provide feedback on. Team lawyers are currently reading line-by-line. No deadline has been set, but formalizing the program is as close as ever.

The teams are expected to do whatever Roger Penske wants because without him the IndyCar Series would die.

Practice 1 Results

Pos	No	Name	Time	Behind	Gap	FL	Laps	Speed	Engine	Team
1	66	David Malukas	25.1635	0.000s	0.000s	35	43	178.830	Honda	Meyer Shank Racing
2	26	Colton Herta	25.2226	0.0591	0.0591	7	29	178.411	Honda	Andretti Global w/Curb Agajanian
3	3	Scott McLaughlin	25.2894	0.1259	0.0668	33	35	177.940	Chevy	Team Penske
4	12	Will Power	25.3115	0.1480	0.0221	37	39	177.785	Chevy	Team Penske
5	10	Alex Palou	25.3334	0.1699	0.0219	41	42	177.631	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
6	77	Romain Grosjean	25.3854	0.2219	0.0520	24	33	177.267	Chevy	Juncos Hollinger Racing
7	60	Felix Rosenqvist	25.3941	0.2306	0.0087	30	37	177.207	Honda	Meyer Shank Racing
8	28	Marcus Ericsson	25.4127	0.2492	0.0186	22	28	177.077	Honda	Andretti Global
9	6	Nolan Siegel	25.4537	0.2902	0.0410	30	30	176.792	Chevy	Arrow McLaren
10	27	Kyle Kirkwood	25.4722	0.3087	0.0185	4	21	176.663	Honda	Andretti Global
11	5	Pato O’Ward	25.4973	0.3338	0.0251	26	29	176.489	Chevy	Arrow McLaren
12	78	Conor Daly	25.5421	0.3786	0.0448	33	39	176.180	Chevy	Juncos Hollinger Racing
13	7	Alexander Rossi	25.5570	0.3935	0.0149	28	38	176.077	Chevy	Arrow McLaren
14	8	Linus Lundqvist	25.6229	0.4594	0.0659	24	29	175.624	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
15	21	Rinus VeeKay	25.6937	0.5302	0.0708	24	52	175.140	Chevy	Ed Carpenter Racing
16	2	Josef Newgarden	25.7744	0.6109	0.0807	40	40	174.592	Chevy	Team Penske
17	41	Sting Ray Robb	25.7764	0.6129	0.0020	41	42	174.578	Chevy	AJ Foyt Enterprises
18	11	Marcus Armstrong	25.8454	0.6819	0.0690	36	39	174.112	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
19	9	Scott Dixon	25.8749	0.7114	0.0295	34	43	173.914	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
20	15	Graham Rahal	25.8824	0.7189	0.0075	42	53	173.863	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
21	14	Santino Ferrucci	25.9047	0.7412	0.0223	27	34	173.714	Chevy	AJ Foyt Enterprises
22	45	Christian Lundgaard	25.9257	0.7622	0.0210	37	46	173.573	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
23	20	Ed Carpenter	25.9913	0.8278	0.0656	46	47	173.135	Chevy	Ed Carpenter Racing
24	4	Kyffin Simpson	26.0562	0.8927	0.0649	44	53	172.704	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
25	18	Jack Harvey	26.0974	0.9339	0.0412	48	53	172.431	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing
26	30	Pietro Fittipaldi	26.1811	1.0176	0.0837	38	56	171.880	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
27	51	Katherine Legge	26.9397	1.7762	0.7586	38	43	167.040	Honda