Newgarden left the controversy behind and set the fastest lap of the session. Photo: Kevin Dejewski
The NTT IndyCar Series held the initial practice session of the Barber Motorsports Park weekend on Friday, with 27 drivers completing laps on the road course commonly referred to as a roller coaster.
Amid a great deal of controversy surrounding his and his team’s unauthorized use of Push to Pass in St. Petersburg, Josef Newgarden demonstrated his ability to move past it as quickly as anyone.
The experienced driver recorded the quickest time of the session, completing a lap of the 2.38-mile course in 1:06.7045 in his #2 Team Penske Chevy.
His lap was 0.08 seconds faster than Pato O’Ward’s best time, with the popular Mexican driver finishing second on the day.
Newgarden admitted to being somewhat distracted at the start of the session, as the press conference explaining his disqualification penalty had taken place just a couple of hours before he got behind the wheel.
He spun once at the beginning of his run, causing a brief pause in the session and damaging a set of tires in the process.
However, he quickly regained his focus, as the two-time champion is known to do, and surged to the top of the timesheets with his next set of tires.
Newgarden’s Team Penske teammate, Will Power, finished the session in third place, completing a trio of Chevrolet-powered cars at the front of the field.
Colton Herta and Christian Lundgaard rounded out the top five, providing Honda with representation at the top of the charts as well.
Newgarden was not the only driver to venture off the track, with a few others pushing the limits on the demanding circuit.
Agustin Canapino caused a red flag with his spin, but Felix Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi were able to recover from their errors with only the loss of a lap as punishment.
Luca Ghiotto, who completed his first ever laps in an IndyCar during the session, was the slowest driver of the afternoon. However, he was very close to Sting Ray Robb and performed admirably considering the circumstances.
Drivers will return to the track on Saturday morning for a second practice session, which will be followed by qualifying at 2:30PM central time.