LEEDS, Ala. — Two years ago, Scott McLaughlin drove to victory at Barber Motorsports Park and had a mannequin known as “Georgina” fall out of the sky in front of his race car.
Georgina is back, hanging out from the bridge that connects the infield of the Barber Motorsports Park with the Barber Museum and so is McLaughlin, who was the fastest driver in Friday’s practice session for Sunday’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix.
McLaughlin had the best lap around the 2.73-mile, 17-turn road course at 1:07.3840 in the No. 3 Chevrolet for Team Penske.
“Pretty good start for us on the Odyssey Battery Chevy,” McLaughlin said. “We were all strong, which is a good sign for the team. We’ve done a lot of hard work in the off-season to figure out where we can be better. We’ve still got a lot to learn and be better at and stronger. Overall a pretty good start for us. Bring on tomorrow.”
The previous IndyCar Series race winner, Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global, was second at 1:07.4128 in the No. 27 Honda.
Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren was third in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Christian Lundgaard of Arrow McLaren was fourth at 1:07.4379 in the No. 7 Chevrolet with Team Penske’s David Malukas rounding out the five at 1:07.5456.
McLaughlin and the rest of the IndyCar speedsters will return to the track Saturday at 11:05 a.m. Eastern Time for another practice session with knockout qualifying culminating with the Firestone “Fast Six” beginning at 2:35 p.m. ET.
During Friday’s practice session, Alexander Rossi lost control in Turn 5, known as “Charlotte’s Web” because of a giant spider welded steel artwork that is situated in that portion of the race course. Because Rossi’s No. 20 had come to a stop on the course, IndyCar issued the red flag to stop the session with 25 minutes left in the all-cars segment of practice.
After a short pause, the green light resumed high speed runs with 20 minutes, 30 seconds left in the session. At that time, Team Penske’s David Malukas was the fastest at 1:08.1345 in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet followed by the previous race winner Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global with a time of 1:08.2554 in the No. 27 Honda.
Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden was third in the No. 2 Chevrolet followed by teammate Scott McLaughlin’s No. 3 Chevrolet at 1:08.3113.
At that potion of practice, Marcus Armstrong of Meyer Shank Racing was fifth at 1:08.4243 in the No. 66 Honda.
With 10 minutes, 30 seconds left in the session, McLaughlin raced his way to the top with a lap at 1:08.0903. The top six drivers at that point were covered by two-tenths of a second.
When that session ended, McLaughlin remained on top with that speed followed by Malukas (108.1345), Kirkwood (1:08.1462), Alex Palou’s No. 10 DHL Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing at 1:08.1743 and Pato O’Ward’s No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet at 1:08.1883.
The field was split into two groups for the final two sessions at 12 minutes each.
At the halfway point of the first split session, David Malukas turned the fastest time at 1:07.5456. With 1 minute, 34 seconds left, Christian Lundgaard of Arrow McLaren drove a fantastic lap and was the fastest at 1:07.4379 in the No. 7 Chevrolet.
Lundgaard finished that session on top followed by Malukas at 1:07.5456, Palou at 1:07.6733, Armstrong at 1:07.7646 and Scott Dixon’s No. 9 PNC Bank Honda at 1:07.9701 for Chip Ganassi Racing.
“I’ve always liked this place since the first time I came here in 2022,” Lundgaard said. “Technically, it was in 2022 that this is the place I didn’t my first IndyCar test. I’ve always liked this place.
“I felt like that wasn’t in the bad today. On the primaries (tires) we didn’t really have the pace. I think the track is very different to what it was last year. With the new alternates, we’re trying to figure it out, and we got it right, which is nice from here.
“Hopefully, we can get the No. 7 VELO Arrow McLaren in victory lane on Sunday.”
In the second group, Kirkwood was the fastest early at 1:07.4128 for the best speed of the day, but 8 minutes, 30 seconds remained. O’Ward (1:07.6243) and Power (1:07.881) were also showing speed in the first five minutes of the 12-minute session.
McLaughlin regained the fastest lap at 1:07.3840 with 1 minute, 30 seconds left in practice.
He would remain on top and hopes for a second date with Georgina and victory lane in Sunday’s race.
