What happened in first IndyCar practice of 2021 season

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou was fastest in first practice as the IndyCar season kicked off at Barber Motorsports Park, while Scott McLaughlin was the best of the sparkling rookie class in eighth.

A scintillating off-season yielded a host of exciting driver moves for the 2021 IndyCar field, with treble Australian Supercars champion McLaughlin, seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson and long-term Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean forming a star-studded newcomer group.

Grosjean was 21st and 1.0813s off the pace in the opening Barber session, while Jimmie Johnson was 24th and last – 1.4788s off the pace.

It didn’t appear either driver was going for a rapid lap as their bests were set very early in the session.

Palou made the switch from Dale Coyne to Ganassi after an impressive rookie season, and Chip Ganassi himself said that Palou had been the fastest of his drivers in the pre-season.

Palou backed up that form with the fastest time with 20 minutes to go in the 45-minute session, with busy hands showing just how hard he was pushing on track.

Interestingly his best came on the 11th lap of his stint on the hard tyre, and was among a number of efforts that beat Sebastien Bourdais’s qualifying record from 2016.

Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta followed Palou – just 0.0176s behind in a Honda-powered 1-2 – by beating Josef Newgarden’s benchmark effort a few minutes before.

Team Penske’s Newgarden is a three-time winner at the venue, more than any other driver.

Newgarden’s session almost ended right at the start when he was making changes on his steering wheel and inadvertently made it came off, leaving him without steering and careering across the track at the busiest time of the session.

Luckily those behind were able to avoid him and he reconnected the wheel while running across the grass.

Newgarden’s perennial rival and reigning series champion Scott Dixon managed the fastest lap of the session, but it was struck off as it was completed under a red flag with nine minutes to go.

That red was brought out by Felix Rosenqvist – Dixon’s ex-team-mate – who has joined Arrow McLaren SP for 2021.

Rosenqvist crashed into the wall after locking up into the tight left hander that enters the pitlane, in a bizarre incident that ensured drivers would struggle to improve given how many laps it would take to get the tyres in after the restart.

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— The Race (@wearetherace) April 17, 2021

Rosenqvist’s team-mate Patricio O’Ward, who fought but failed to take third in the championship last year after a long battle with Herta, was fifth quickest ahead of Alexander Rossi.

Will Power was seventh, followed by Penske team-mate McLaughlin, while Ganassi’s Marcus Ericsson and Rosenqvist rounded out the top 10.

The top 19 cars were split by less than nine tenths of a second, with the top 10 covered within four tenths.

Practice 1 Results