Newgarden on top as Mid-Ohio IndyCar weekend begins

Josef Newgarden kicked off a bid to end his and Team Penske’s 2021 winless streak after heartbreak at Road America by topping the first IndyCar practice session at Mid-Ohio.

Newgarden – who’s on one of the longest streaks of his career without winning a race – set the fastest lap with 21 minutes of the 45 minute session remaining.

He stole the top spot from Felix Rosenqvist, who was the first driver into the 1m08s on his return from injury sustained in a horror crash at Detroit three races ago, and was replaced by Oliver Askew and Kevin Magnussen at the two races he missed.

Rosenqvist’s return wasn’t all glorious after topping the charts, as he lost control of his Arrow McLaren SP car at Turn 1 and brought out a red flag. He ended the session 13th.

Just before that, Colton Herta produced one of the saves of the season correcting his car and avoiding the barriers by milimetres, while Takuma Sato touched the barriers at the Carousel after Rosenqvist’s incident.

Should @ColtonHerta go buy a lottery ticket?

Because he just got LUCKY. No contact for the #26.#INDYCAR // #Honda200 // @FollowAndretti pic.twitter.com/nhofNBEHUY

— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) July 2, 2021

Newgarden’s advantage was eroded after the red flag for Rosenqvist, as the latter’s team-mate Patricio O’Ward jumped into second ahead of Meyer Shank Racing’s Jack Harvey.

Alexander Rossi and Graham Rahal rounded out the top five, with Romain Grosjean marking his first race weekend visit to Mid-Ohio – after a short test last week – with the sixth fastest time in practice.

Championship leader Alex Palou was ninth for Chip Ganassi Racing, while Will Power was the next highest Penske car after Newgarden in 11th.

Of the returning and debuting drivers, Rinus VeeKay was 18th as he comes back from a broken clavicle following a cycling crash that kept him out at Road America and means he’s racing with eight screws in his shoulder this weekend.

Series debutant Ryan Norman is racing the third Dale Coyne car this weekend, and used his Road to Indy and IMSA experience to adapt to the track, 22nd quickest.

Shortly after the session, rain fell heavily which will clean the track ahead of tomorrow’s qualifying and two practices. However the Road to Indy – including Indy Lights, broadcast to international viewers on The Race’s YouTube channel – will help to rubber-in the track again.

Practice 1 Results