STEAM CORNERS, Ohio — Alex Palou was the coolest driver on a very hot track, as the NTT IndyCar Series points leader was the fastest in Friday’s all-cars session at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for this weekend’s Honda Indy 200.
But it was the Andretti Global duo of Will Power and Kyle Kirkwood that lowered the mark in the second group of the split session for fastest of the day honors.
Palou, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver of the No. 10 Honda, was the fastest with all cars on track with a lap at 1:06.6561 around the 2.258-mile, 13 turn Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
When practice began, it was 96 degrees Fahrenheit for the ambient temperature and the track temperature was a blistering 128 degrees F.
“It was a good start, it was very warm, very hot, but it’s super fun to drive Indy cars around here at Mid-Ohio,” Palou said. “It was a really fast one. Good, fast start but it will be a different story tomorrow. A lot of work.”
The only incident in the main portion of practice was Marcus Armstrong’s No. 66 Honda for Meyer Shank Racing. At 3:24 p.m. Eastern Time, Armstrong brought out the only Red Flag of the session when his car slid into SAFER tire barrier in Turn-2. Armstrong climbed from his car without assistance from the AMR IndyCar Safety Team.
Earlier in the day, Meyer Shank Racing announced Armstrong had signed a multi-year contract extension to remain with the IndyCar Series team.
Armstrong said it felt like his car scraped the bottom of the racing surface before it slid off track but was confident the team could repair the damage and get him back on track for Saturday morning’s practice session.
After Palou took the fastest time in the all-cars session, two split groups hit the track to complete Friday’s practice.
Late in the second group of the split session, Will Power lowered the mark with a lap at 1:05.554 in the No. 26 Honda. Kirkwood’s time was 1:05.667 in the No. 27 Honda.
Romain Grosjean brought out the Red Flag in that group session when he went off track and into the SAFER Barrier in Turn 2 with 6 minutes left in the session.
As for the fast driver when all cars were on track, it was the driver who brings a 60-point lead over Team Penske’s David Malukas in the NTT IndyCar Series standings entering the Mid-Ohio race weekend.
Palou was in firm control of last year’s race and appeared he was cruising to victory before he went high into Turn 9 with six laps remaining. That allowed teammate Scott Dixon to pass him in the next turn and go on to win the race, his seventh win at Mid-Ohio.
“Thanks for reminding me of that,” Palou said. “Of course, I think about it. It was one of those mistakes that wasn’t necessary, but I was pushing really hard. I was trying my best and lost it a little bit.
“Hopefully we can recover what we lost last year, but that’s racing. It shows how tough it is to win a race.”
