Pato O’Ward took the lead in Friday’s practice session at Long Beach. The NTT IndyCar Series drivers hit the streets after IMSA was finished with their practice runs. IndyCar decided to split the field into two groups for a portion of the practice session, allowing all 27 drivers to turn laps on the 1.97-mile street course for the first 45 minutes. They were then only allowed to hit the track for one of the two 10-minute sessions that followed. This split format was designed to give fans more time with cars on track and allow drivers to set complete laps without traffic. Pato O’Ward came out on top with a lap time of 1:06.6874, just 0.094 seconds ahead of Will Power. Scott McLaughlin and Felix Rosenqvist also performed well, placing third and fourth respectively. The harder Firestone tires proved to be a challenge for drivers, as the second flying lap yielded the fastest speeds. Theo Pourchaire made his IndyCar debut and impressed with the 21st fastest time of the afternoon. Despite some shifting problems, Kyle Kirkwood managed to complete the session without incident. The second practice session will take place on Saturday morning.
After completing five races in the Formula 1 season, Max Verstappen and the worldwide series have made their way to the United States for the first of three...
Read more