Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin was the fastest IndyCar Series driver in Saturday morning’s practice session for the BitNile.com Grand Prix of Portland.
McLaughlin, who was the fastest driver in overall speed on Friday, backed it up Saturday morning with a lap at 58.8605 in the No. 3 Chevrolet.
This weekend’s race is at Portland International Raceway, a 12-turn, 1.964-mile road course in Portland, Oregon. Sunday’s BITNILE.Com Grand Prix of Portland is 110 laps, 216.04 miles.
David Malukas of Meyer Shank Racing was second in the No. 66 Honda at 58.8868 followed by Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden in the No. 2 Chevrolet at 58.8942.
Colton Herta of Andretti Global was fourth at 58.9207 in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda with Alexander Rossi of Arrow McLaren rounding out the top five at 58.9525 in the No. 7 Chevrolet.
McLaughlin won this race from the pole in 2022.
“You have to trust your car,” McLaughlin said. “We rolled out of the hauler great. Overall, really good stuff. Need to keep this going for qualifying.
“We were quick yesterday on hotter temps. Cooler temps this morning, but you have to trust that. We need to work on ourselves and not worry about anyone else.”
It was up and at ‘em early for the 28 IndyCar Series teams and drivers as practice began at 9 a.m. Pacific Time with a cool 59 degrees of temperature with the sun starting to burn through the clouds.
Just four minutes into the session, Will Power slid his No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet off course in Turn 12. The car twitched, he tried to gather it in, it went across the grass and through the lane used for the support series paddock. The Team Penske driver did not make contact, but the car came to a stop. He was unable to restart it with the hybrid, so the Red Flag stopped the session.
The AMR Safety Crew was dispatched, Power’s car re-fired and off he went.
With about 34 minutes left, rookie Toby Sowery jumped over the curbs in his No. 51 Honda for Dale Coyne Racing with RWR.
With 32:01 left, Sting Ray Robb’s Chevrolet bottomed out, the car took a loop in Turns 10-11, slid through the grass and into the tire barrier for the second red flag of the session.
At that time, rookie Nolan Siegel was at the top of the timing monitor with a lap at 59.3469 in the No. 6 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren.
Felix Rosenqvist misjudged the apex of a corner, clipped the corner of a wall and launched over two curbs, damaging the No. 60 Meyer Shank Honda. It did not create a red flag situation, and Rosenqvist limped the car back to pit lane.
“My back is fine, it was more air than I expected on the second curb,” Rosenqvist said. “It was like a rocket launch.
“I just got too greedy there. At least we got a few laps out of it. The car felt good before that.”
With 15 minutes left in the session, Malukas moved up to the top spot with a lap at 58.8868 in the No. 66 Meyer Shank Honda. That was faster than the McLaughlin’s No. 2 Chevrolet at Team Penske, who clocked in at 58.9366.
A few minutes later, McLaughlin turned a faster lap at 58.8605 to pass Malukas for the top of the board.
With less than 10 minutes to go, Sowery brought out the red flag with a spin and was stopped on course. He was able to refire the car and drive off, but the red flag brought a time penalty of five minutes from practice.
It quickly returned to green with 9:20 left.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Juri Vips had an incident in the exit of turn two, slid backwards, but was able to return to the track.
Teammate Pietro Fittipaldi locked up his brakes, a few moments later, but without incident.
“To get the speed out of our cars right now, you are driving on the ragged edge,” Graham Rahal said after he was eighth in practice. “This year we have to throw this thing around a lot.
“Qualifying is next, and we will see how she goes. Gotta get a gap to get a fast lap.
“The field is tight. It’s insane right now. It’s going to be tough today.”
Qualifications are later today at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time.