Palou leads practice at IndyCar’s Indianapolis return

Rookie Alex Palou topped practice for the Harvest Grand Prix on the Indianapolis road course, kicking off the penultimate round of the IndyCar season.

The event is the latest in the year a race has taken place in the 111-year history of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the cool autumn weather produced a small amount of rain before the session began.

However a dry track awaited drivers in the only practice session of this double-header event.

It was ex-Formula 1 driver Max Chilton who ran top for most of the session on the harder Firestone tyre for Carlin – having remained in the top 10 here earlier in the season before a caution ended the chances of him and other drivers on the same strategy.

However, with 12 minutes to go in the 1hr15m session, Dale Coyne Racing driver Palou was among the first drivers to bolt on the soft tyres and went to the top of the timesheets.

He is fighting for his seat next year and drove like it, leading another late red-tyre improver Jack Harvey of Meyer Shank Racing by 0.0996 seconds.

With just over four minutes to go, Chip Ganassi Racing’s ex-Sauber and Alfa Romeo Formula 1 driver Marcus Ericsson spun causing a red flag, which set up a busy final two minutes on track where many drivers improved late on.

Colton Herta was one of the latest drivers to improve, the winner at Mid-Ohio last time out jumping into third just two tenths adrift.

Championship leader Scott Dixon spent much of the session making set-up changes including extensive damper alterations, but appeared to find the sweet spot as a very late effort launched him into fourth, ahead of the first Chevrolet-powered runner, Chilton.

Dixon’s closest title rival Josef Newgarden was at home in the top 10 all session as he needs a strong weekend to have any chance of taking a third title and foiling Dixon’s bid for a sixth.

Newgarden must outscore Dixon by at least 19 points this weekend to keep the championship alive, and started the weekend sixth fastest.

One of the drivers caught out by strategy earlier in the year at this track, Graham Rahal, showed brilliant pace on the harder tyre in that event and for that reason should be a driver to watch in this weekend’s races.

He was seventh, ahead of Arrow McLaren SP driver Patricio O’Ward – who will need Dixon and Newgarden to hit serious trouble if he is to progress from third in the championship.

Dixon’s Ganassi team-mate Felix Rosenqvist and Newgarden’s Penske partner Simon Pagenaud rounded out the top 10.

There are 25 cars entered this weekend – the top 18 separated by under a second in practice – with additional entries and a number of driver swaps through the field.

Of those, four-time Champ Car title winner Sebastien Bourdais was the best positioned in 22nd for AJ Foyt Racing – where he will complete the season and a full-time schedule in 2021.

Helio Castroneves is replacing rookie Oliver Askew – out as he seeks recovery after a concussion – in the #7 Arrow McLaren SP car.

Castroneves topped the session with the first flying lap on the board, but ended up 23rd while working to reacclimatise to road course braking.

Despite only doing the Indianapolis 500 for Penske this year, he has won three straight races on road courses in the IMSA SportsCar series recently and showed no signs of IndyCar rustiness.

James Hinchcliffe was 24th as he replaces Zach Veach at Andretti Autosport for the last three races of the season, while IndyCar returnee Sage Karam of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing rounded out the field having had a fuel pressure issue.

Spectators are welcome for the first time in 2020 at the venue, and IndyCar and Indianapolis owner Roger Penske and circuit chief Doug Boles greeted fans personally at the gates when they opened on Thursday.

Practice 1 Results