Herta leads Long Beach IndyCar practice, O’Ward off the pace

Colton Herta topped the first practice of the IndyCar championship finale at Long Beach, as title favourite Alex Palou was third and his disconsolate main rival Pato O’Ward was 16th.

The series hasn’t visited Long Beach since 2019. The drivers were told to expect less grip despite a similar Firestone tyre compound, but this is the first visit to this track with the new for 2020 aeroscreen device complicating car set-up.

For rivals fearing a third consecutive win for Alexander Rossi and Andretti Autosport at the venue, the results did nothing to dispel that expectations that as the Andretti team established itself in a 1-2-3-4 for a while.

However, a host of late improvements dispersed them.

Ganassi driver Palou had topped much of the first part of the truncated 45-minute session, interrupted by two red flags by the end, and once he had been topped by the Andretti cars, he continued his learning on his first trip to the venue by delivering third behind Herta and Simon Pagenaud late on.

He only needs to finish 11th in Sunday’s race to secure the championship, and while he appeared quietly confident, his closest rival O’Ward appeared lost after the session.

“That’s where we’re at,” he said, asked about his pace down in 16th.

Asked what he needed to change, he replied: “I guess we yard sale the car and see how we go.”

O’Ward is 34 points behind Palou and realistically needs to win or come second in the race on Sunday to have a chance of the title.

Perhaps O’Ward’s Arrow McLaren SP team-mate Felix Rosenqvist will provide some relief after the session as he followed Palou’s lead and jumped up into fourth behind him late on.

Andretti’s Ryan Hunter-Reay survived the late chargers to hold fifth, in a weekend where he is starting his last race with the team, and it was confirmed today that Romain Grosjean will take over that car in 2022.

Grosjean – along with Josef Newgarden, Simon Pagenaud and Dalton Kellett – locked up and went off in various ways at Turn 9, but the rookie Grosjean held fifth until being bumped out of the top 10 to 11th by the end.

Helio Castroneves (Meyer Shank Racing) and Penske’s Scott McLaughlin were also among the late improvements in sixth and seventh, while Andretti pair James Hinchcliffe and Rossi were demoted to eighth and ninth.

Josef Newgarden spun after locking up over a bump early on and only his supreme car control kept him out of the wall, as he set the 10th fastest time.

He trails points leader Palou by 48 points with 54 on offer this weekend and Palou guaranteed to score five if he starts.

Oliver Askew – fighting for a seat at Rahal Letterman Lanigan next year – went off twice in the session, as did Jimmie Johnson, who is competing at the venue where he came as a teen trying to forge a career in motorsport, and one of the venues that inspired him to try IndyCar.

Callum Ilott revealed a full-time 2022 deal with Junco Hollinger Racing on Friday and ended the practice 25th quickest.

Practice 1 Results