Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin led the only practice session of the weekend for IndyCar’s double-header at Iowa Speedway.
The New Zealander threw down a monster lap of 185.891 mph around the 0.894-mile oval, which featured newly-repaved bottom lanes in all four corners.
Reigning and two-time series champion Alex Palou ended up putting his No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda second overall, just 0.0331s slower.
The No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet of Pato O’Ward was third at 0.1633s off the mark set by McLaughlin.
Meyer Shank Racing’s David Malukas was fourth, followed by Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Pietro Fittipaldi ran a session-most 112 laps, ending up 17th overall (0.4794s).
The day’s on-track activity for the IndyCar Series started with a special 30-minute high-line session, which featured a different right-side tyre compound specific to the running for the two groups that split into running 15 minutes each.
The brief outing ended with Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson at the top with a fastest lap of 177.399mph, just ahead of Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Agustin Canapino’s best run of 177.380mph.
That would be the only positive moment of the afternoon for Ericsson, who crashed just 10 minutes into the regular 90-minute practice that followed after a small break.
Ericsson was turning into Turn 3 when the back end of his No. 28 Honda kicked out as he transitioned onto the repaved portion of the corner. Despite his best efforts to regain control, the car drifted up the track and right side slammed hard into the Turn 4 wall before sliding across the frontstretch and coming to a stop near the infield.
He was fifth on the leaderboard at the time, nailing 179.694 mph after just running three laps.
“Really strange,” Ericsson said. “We did a whole test here and we had zero rear insecurity. We did the high-line practice and the car felt great; I was super comfortable.
“It came a bit out of nowhere. Really frustrating.”
The session resumed roughly 10 minutes later, with Ericsson’s team-mate, Colton Herta vaulting up to first shortly thereafter with a quick lap at 182.083 mph.
AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci jumped to the top spot at the halfway mark with a 182.273mph flying lap, but was dethroned by McLaughlin, who was then knocked off by Rossi. But it was Palou’s lap of 185.519 mph getting everyone’s attention not long after.
McLaughlin responded with a simulated qualifying run and went to the top of the timesheets with a quick lap of 185.891mph with 26 minutes to go.
Although Katherine Legge, who is making her first appearance back in IndyCar since the Indianapolis 500 in May, started strong early in the session, she had a challenging moment after spinning off Turn 4 just two minutes later. Fortunately, she made no contact with the wall and was able to continue after stalling on the frontstretch to bring out the caution.
With seven minutes left, the promising session for Canapino nearly ended in tears as he was forced to brake hard while coming up on a significantly slower Will Power and spun off Turn 3.
Then, while coming down pit lane, Canapino was hit in the left-rear by Dixon, who appeared to be mistakenly pulling into the pit box of the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet for rookie Nolan Siegel.
In the closing moments of practice, McLaughlin attempted to try the high line, but ended up spinning. He was able to keep it off the wall as the incident closed out the practice.
17.3134
+0.0331
17.3465
+0.1633
17.4767
+0.1673
17.4807
+0.1985
17.5119
+0.2141
17.5275
+0.2144
17.5278
+0.2614
17.5748
+0.2769
17.5903
+0.2831
17.5965
+0.2949
17.6083
+0.3140
17.6274
+0.3436
17.6570
+0.3594
17.6728
+0.4178
17.7312
+0.4493
17.7627
+0.4794
17.7928
+0.5179
17.8313
+0.5532
17.8666
+0.5955
17.9089
+0.5970
17.9104
+0.6002
17.9136
+0.6127
17.9261
+0.7142
18.0276
+0.7907
18.1041
+1.0205
18.3339
+1.1689
18.4823
Source: Autosport