STEAM CORNERS, Ohio — Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.
Last year’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio race winner, Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing, was the fastest driver in Friday’s practice session at the 13-turn. 2.258-mile Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
But this wasn’t a typical Friday practice for IndyCar. It was the first day of the Hybrid Engine Era.
Unfortunately, it didn’t yield much information as rain kept some teams from limiting track time and decided to wait for better conditions on Saturday.
He drove the No. 10 Ridgeline Honda time of 1:07.0650 for a speed of 121.208 miles per hour.
Alexander Rossi of Arrow McLaren was second at 1:07.5093 (120.410 mph) in the No. 7 Chevrolet.
Rossi won from the pole here in 2018 and has three podium finishes in nine previous starts. Palou’s last three races at Mid-Ohio have produced a third place in 2021, a second place in 2022 and a win last year.
Palou ran just eight laps and Rossi ran 13. The most laps completed by any driver was rookie Toby Sowery in the No. 51 Dale Coyne Racing RWR Honda with 20.
“Yeah, it was short,” Palou said. “Not much running. Only got nine laps. I think everybody wanted to get more. We didn’t really get all the learnings we wanted, but it was kind of hard waiting a little bit and the red flag screwed us up and then also the rain.
“Yeah, happy with the first run we got, but we’re looking forward to tomorrow.”
Marcus Armstrong of Chip Ganassi Racing was third at 1:07.5442 (120.348 mph) in the No. 11 Honda. Colton Herta of Andretti Global was fourth at 1:07.6346 (120.187 mph) in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda.
Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske was fifth in the No. 3 Chevrolet at 1:07.6827 (120.102 mph).
Palou, who leads second-place Will Power by 23 points in the standings, is a recent master at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, with a victory last July and three consecutive podium finishes dating to 2021.
Two red flags in the first 50 minutes of the 90-minute session reduced early track time. Then the arrival of intensifying rain with about 26 minutes left divided the session into two distinct parts.
All 27 drivers circulated early on the freshly paved, 13-turn, 2.258-mile circuit, learning the grip limits of the smooth new asphalt and working with the hybrid system IndyCar is introducing to all engines starting at this event.
But once the rain arrived and intensified, only a handful of drivers – Pato O’Ward, Kyle Kirkwood, Colton Herta, Alexander Rossi and Felix Rosenqvist among them – switched to Firestone Firehawk rain tires and tiptoed around the wet track. Nearly every driver stayed in the pits and didn’t risk an incident, as the weather forecast looks clear for Saturday and Sunday.
Among the closest pursuers to Palou in points, Power ended up 10th at 1:08.1458 in the No. 12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet and third place Scott Dixon was 19th at 1:08.4384 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
Up next is a one-hour practice starting at 10:50 a.m. ET Saturday, followed by NTT P1 Award qualifying at 3 p.m. ET.
“I think everybody with the hybrid system wants to get reads on all the stages and also get the car where we want because with the repave, everything changed quite a lot,” Palou said. “It’s going to be exciting tomorrow.”