IndyCar Road America: Rossi quickest in first practice for McLaren

Rossi topped the 75-minute session around the fabled 4.048-mile road course with a best lap of 1m41.779s, with times massively faster than last year’s pace thanks to the track’s first full repave, which took place last October and November, since 1995.

It also meant that tire squeal from the natural understeer characteristics of the Dallaras was audible over the sound of their engines in several of its long-radius corners.

Alex Zanardi’s all-time fastest race lap of 1m41.874s was dipped under after half an hour of running by David Malukas (Dale Coyne Racing) with 1m41.865s.

Rossi beat that with 1m41.779s for the fastest time on primaries, as teams then switched to the softer alternates with a dozen minutes remaining. Both of the top two drivers took part in the test here last week.

The anticipated improvements on red tires didn’t materialize, however, with Alex Palou (Chip Ganassi Racing) the fastest on those, lapping in 1m41.948s for third, just ahead of team-mate Scott Dixon, who produce a late 1m41.954s.

McLaren’s Pato O’Ward was fifth fastest, ahead of Marcus Ericsson (Ganassi), Christian Lundgaard (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing), Felix Rosenqvist (McLaren), Colton Herta (Andretti Autosport), Marcus Armsrtong (CGR) and Graham Rahal (RLL).

“It’s super-smooth, like a dancefloor out there but grippy,” reported Rosenqvist of the new surface. “We weren’t happy with the reds, so the hards could be pretty strong here because it’s so grippy and it’s a long lap.”

Scott McLaughin was the fastest Penske driver down in 15^th, just ahead of team-mates Josef Newgarden and Will Power.

Santino Ferrucci had a big spin at Canada Corner and quipped over the radio: “I think we can say the car is a bit nosey.”

Series returnee Ryan Hunter-Reay was 22^nd for Ed Carpenter Racing, 1.35s off the pace but ahead of five drivers in his first road course IndyCar session for over 18 months.

Dario Franchitti’s qualifying track record of 1m39.866s will be tested in qualifying tomorrow at 12:55pm local time (1:55pm ET).

Cla	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	Alexander Rossi	Arrow McLaren	14	1'41.7790			141.978
2	David Malukas	Dale Coyne Racing	16	1'41.8652	0.0862	0.0862	141.858
3	Alex Palou	Chip Ganassi Racing	16	1'41.9486	0.1696	0.0834	141.742
4	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	18	1'41.9544	0.1754	0.0058	141.734
5	Patricio O'Ward	Arrow McLaren	15	1'41.9778	0.1988	0.0234	141.701
6	Marcus Ericsson	Chip Ganassi Racing	14	1'42.0426	0.2636	0.0648	141.611
7	Christian Lundgaard	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	18	1'42.0534	0.2744	0.0108	141.596
8	Felix Rosenqvist	Arrow McLaren	15	1'42.0633	0.2843	0.0099	141.583
9	Colton Herta	Andretti Autosport	13	1'42.0789	0.2999	0.0156	141.561
10	Marcus Armstrong	Chip Ganassi Racing	21	1'42.2146	0.4356	0.1357	141.373
11	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	17	1'42.3731	0.5941	0.1585	141.154
12	Devlin DeFrancesco	Andretti Autosport	14	1'42.4372	0.6582	0.0641	141.066
13	Santino Ferrucci	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	17	1'42.4680	0.6890	0.0308	141.024
14	Ray Robb	Dale Coyne Racing	22	1'42.5097	0.7307	0.0417	140.966
15	Scott McLaughlin	Team Penske	14	1'42.5799	0.8009	0.0702	140.870
16	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	12	1'42.6013	0.8223	0.0214	140.840
17	Will Power	Team Penske	15	1'42.7382	0.9592	0.1369	140.653
18	Romain Grosjean	Andretti Autosport	15	1'42.8418	1.0628	0.1036	140.511
19	Kyle Kirkwood	Andretti Autosport	13	1'42.8773	1.0983	0.0355	140.462
20	Helio Castroneves	Meyer Shank Racing	18	1'43.0304	1.2514	0.1531	140.254
21	Agustin Canapino	Juncos Hollinger Racing	17	1'43.0679	1.2889	0.0375	140.203
22	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Ed Carpenter Racing	17	1'43.1368	1.3578	0.0689	140.109
23	Jack Harvey	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	18	1'43.1707	1.3917	0.0339	140.063
24	Benjamin Pedersen	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	24	1'43.2036	1.4246	0.0329	140.018
25	Callum Ilott	Juncos Hollinger Racing	14	1'43.2368	1.4578	0.0332	139.973
26	Rinus van Kalmthout	Ed Carpenter Racing	17	1'43.3655	1.5865	0.1287	139.799
27	Simon Pagenaud	Meyer Shank Racing	15	1'43.4092	1.6302	0.0437	139.740
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