Inevitably, after a warm-up lap at the start of the session, the veterans parked and let the rookies use their extra set of primary tyres to clean the track and add grip to the surface already christened with Firestone rubber thanks to the Indy NXT cars on track earlier in the afternoon.
Despite a lurid moment at Turn 9 in his #11 Chip Ganassi, Marcus Armstrong was the first to lap the course at an average of over 122mph on his sixth lap, producing a 1m07.7542s around the 17-turn 2.3-mile course.
Christian Lundgaard was the first non-rookie to lay down a fast lap, and within three flyers he was on top with a 1m07.4060s, a couple of tenths ahead of Andretti Autosport’s Romain Grosjean.
Then Helio Castroneves took too big a bite out of the extended curbing at Turn 8, went airborne and his Meyer Shank Racing car ended up in the gravel trap on the outside of Turn 9, but without reaching the tyre wall.
Armstrong’s Ganassi team-mates were next to show their mettle, Alex Palou – 2021 winner here – going top, with Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson clocking third.
Then out came the second red, as Grosjean’s right-side exhausts started smoking heavily and he was told to stop on track.
When the action resumed, McLaughlin, who topped the test at Barber in mid-March, jumped his Team Penske up to third on his sixth lap, ahead of Alexander Rossi’s Arrow McLaren.
Meanwhile, Palou had delivered a 123mph lap to set a 1m07.2709s, but he was soon eclipsed by team-mate Scott Dixon who has scored nine podiums in 12 starts at Barber but is still seeking his first win here, while Ericsson made it a Ganassi 1-2-3.
Source: Autosport