Herta fastest as Nashville circuit makes IndyCar debut

Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta impressed by going fastest in first practice as the new Nashville downtown street circuit made its IndyCar debut.

The track was just as bumpy as expected, especially at Turn 4, the left-hander at the end of the first run over the impressive and scenic Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge.

Lap times started in the 1m19s, but dropped down into the 1m16s in the closing stages as drivers became more familiar with the track.

The one constant through the session was Herta being near the top of the leaderboard.

As times swapped often, he was the last of the late movers to snatch the top spot with a 1m16.5875.

Earlier in the day, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon had undertaken a ceremonial lap of the track to open the action, and he used every ounce of his experience to go second fastest, ahead of Romain Grosjean.

Dale Coyne Racing’s Grosjean had a moment earlier in the session in which he failed to see or move out of the way of Herta’s team-mate Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Hunter-Reay edged Grosjean towards the outside of Turn 4 in a show of displeasure at being held up.

Another of Herta’s team-mates, Alexander Rossi, and Dixon’s stablemate Marcus Ericsson rounded out the top five with points leader Alex Palou just behind.

Ganassi driver Palou received a six-place grid penalty ahead of the weekend for an unapproved engine change after a recent test, but his closest rival in the championship Pato O’Ward – who won the last street race, in Detroit in June – hit trouble almost as soon as track action commenced in Nashville.

Arrow McLaren SP driver O’Ward, who is 39 points behind Palou, said it felt like the steering wheel was being knocked out of his hands in his early laps, and his strategist Taylor Kiel told him to watch out for the “violent” braking zone at Turn 4.

But shortly after, he clipped the inside wall entering Turn 3 and then with a broken wheel, careered into the outside wall damaging the front left of his car too. He was checked and cleared from the infield medical centre.

Palou was still troubled by an Arrow McLaren SP car as Macau Grand Prix and Formula E race winner Felix Rosenqvist used his street circuit pedigree to go top of the times on his fastest lap before he was shuffled back.

Behind Rosenqvist in seventh, a trio of Penske cars rounded out the top 10 with Will Power leading Scott McLaughlin and Simon Pagenaud.

The fourth car of Josef Newgarden – who ended his and Penske’s winless streak by beating a late-charging Marcus Ericsson last time out at Mid-Ohio – was 12th, but did win his charity table tennis tournament in the lead up to the event.

Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves boosted the field up to 27 cars in his first road course appearance for Meyer Shank Racing, and managed 20th for the Andretti-affiliated, Honda-powered team.

The session was halted four minutes early as Conor Daly of Ed Carpenter Racing crashed at Turn 9.

Practice 1 Results