Marcus Ericsson Leads the Way in Opening Practice Session at Barber Ahead of Palou and Herta
- Jeffrey Hrunka
- May 2
- 3 min read
Updated: May 3
Jeffrey Hrunka - Staff Writer
After Kyle Kirkwood led Andretti Global to its first win of the season in the Grand Prix of Long Beach, his teammate Marcus Ericsson led the way in the first practice session at Barber Motorsports Park for the Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix.
Ericsson ran the fastest lap time of the session on the black primary tires, 1:07.747s, in the all-cars session. Delvin Defrancesco and Nolan Siegel rounded out the podium positions at 1:07.930 and 1:08.812 times.
Siegel led the charge for Arrow McLaren, as Lungaard and O’Ward struggled to show speed throughout the 65-minute session. Both drivers ended the session timed at 13th (1:08.195) and 14th (1:08.431), respectively.
"We tested here a couple weeks ago, and today's definitely been a little bit different,” O’Ward said. “Just little cleanups that we have to do here and there. And I think we'll get it right where we need.”
Andretti Global showed speed among all three of its Chevrolets, with Herta and Kirkwood timing inside the top 10 of the initial 40-minute practice session. However, once teams switched to the alternate tire compound, Kirkwood dropped to 11th (1:08.151) and Herta (1:07.773) moved to third.
For Herta, he has yet to qualify worse than fourth this season, yet his best qualifying effort is 13th around Barber.
"I think there are some tendencies that we have gained through the past weekends that are negative, or my reads on things have been negative,” Herta said. “I think we always race really well here. It's just hard to make up positions when you start at the back here.”
For the first time in two decades, a Team Penske driver does not sit inside the top five in driver points after the first three races.
Will Power, Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden entered this weekend in eighth, ninth and tenth place in points. While this doesn't look bad on paper, each driver has a finish of 27th or worse this year.
They looked to put the statistic to rest as each driver finished inside the top 10 in the first practice. Power led the way, with a 1:07.787s lap time for fourth, with Newgarden and McLaughlin timing in sixth (1:07.867) and eighth (1:08.068) after putting on the red tires.
McLaughlin had the session's highlight, spinning down the hill through turns 14 and 15. He was one of many cars that seemed to lose the front end at some point during the session.
"It was quite windy when we first started the session,” Herta said. “I think it was tricky at times with how the wind was, but I think it was somewhat straightforward if you had a good balance.”
Alex Palou (1:07.760s), Alexander Rossi (1:08.104s) and Scott Dixon (1:08.096s) rounded out the top ten in practice one in second, fifth and tenth, respectively. Palou was the only one of these three to run a lap time inside the top ten in both sessions.
All eyes are on tomorrow's qualifying session as inclement weather is expected to shake up the weekend.
“If it rains, it's going to change things a lot, but for everyone, so it's the same for everybody,” O’Ward said. “No one's in control besides Mother Nature.”
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Practice 1 - All Cars - Results (Top-10):
(All cars were restricted to primary (black) tires for this session)
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Practice 1 - Overall Results - Group and All Cars (Top-10):
* Cars that lapped best time on alternate (red) tires
NTT INDYCAR SERIES action continues on Saturday, May 3, for the second practice and qualifying session at Barber Motorsports Park on FS1. This leads into the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix on FOX on Sunday, May 4.
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