Chris Owens/IMS Photo
O'Ward leads loopy opening Laguna practice
Drivers spun and crashed and the hottest driver in recent weeks flew on Friday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca as the IndyCar Series spent 80 minutes under the California sun for opening practice at the Java House Grand Prix of Monterey.
The happiest of the 27 drivers was Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward who paced the field with a 1m09.207s in the No. 5 Chevy as he sampled Firestone’s fastest red-banded alternate tires on a qualifying simulation run. Former Indy Lights teammate Colton Herta was a close second in the No. 26 Andretti Global Honda, producing a 1m09.317s to run ahead of Meyer Shank Racing’s Marcus Armstrong in the No. 66 Honda (1m09.317s), Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou in the No. 10 Honda (1m09.368s), Callum Ilott in the No. 90 PREMA Racing Chevy (1m09.674s), with Christian Rasmussen completing the top six in the No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevy (1m09.674s).
"We rolled off really strong," O'Ward said. "I'm definitely happy with where we're at in terms of speed. Obviously, we still have more work to do to be more consistent, but it's been a very good day for us."
Unfortunate runners were led by Devlin DeFrancesco who damaged one side of his car in Turn 4 and was done for the day, and Alexander Rossi who hit with the other side of his car and missed the rest of the running. Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Jacob Abel and Rinus VeeKay were among those who executed half or full spins. All kept going with the exception of Newgarden, who got stuck and needed to be towed from a gravel trap.
Newgarden’s struggles extended to teammates Scott McLaughlin and Will Power who were 16th and 17th on Friday; Newgarden was 26th. It was a similar case for Dixon – fourth in the championship – who was 24th.
The 40-minute opening practice session for all drivers opened at 2 p.m. PT on Friday under sunny and moderate temperatures in the low 70s. After 10 minutes of running, Christian Lundgaard was the fastest at 1m11.307s.
With 15 minutes gone, Rasmussen, who’d just spun, went to first at 1m10.746s ahead of Armstrong, Dixon, Kyle Kirkwood, Nolan Siegel and Felix Rosenqvist.
After 20 minutes were consumed, it was Laguna Seca’s defending winner Palou taking the top spot with a 1m10.170s lap to lead championship rival O’Ward with a 1m10.342s.
The red flag was required with 12 minutes left in the session as DeFrancesco crashed on his own in Turn 4 and crumpled the left side of the car. The clock kept running and the session returned to green with six minutes to go.
Dixon spun out of Turn 5 with two minutes remaining and got the car turned around and drove off, but it was only a matter of moments before Abel spun at Turn 3 and got going again. Rossi then went off at Turn 6 and smashed the left side of the car.
Fastest at the checkered flag were Palou, O’Ward, Rosenqvist, Rasmussen, Malukas, and Armstrong.
The opening group with the field split in half was led by O’Ward who turned a 1m09.207s to lead Armstrong, Palou, Ilott, Rasmussen and Kirkwood.
Group two was led by Herta with a 1m09.317s ahead of Rosenqvist, Louis Foster, Kyffin Simpson, Lundgaard, and Abel.
The red flag was needed with 1m32s left in the final group as Newgarden spun and got stuck in the gravel on the outside of the Corkscrew. Nobody improved their positions in the top six after the brief return to green.
UP NEXT: Practice two, 8:30 a.m. PT
Marshall Pruett
The 2026 season marks Marshall Pruett's 40th year working in the sport. In his role today for RACER, Pruett covers open-wheel and sports car racing as a writer, reporter, photographer, and filmmaker. In his previous career, he served as a mechanic, engineer, and team manager in a variety of series, including IndyCar, IMSA, and World Challenge.
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