McLaughlin tops Palou in first practice on new Arlington street course

The track is big and bold and the best driver from the first-ever session at the Java House Grand Prix of Arlington was flying on Friday at St. Petersburg polesitter Scott McLaughlin set the new standard for speed.

“I’m feeling pretty good about everything and we’ll see how we go,” the New Zealander said.

The Team Penske ace fired around the slippery 2.7-mile, 14-turn street circuit in just 1m34.8926s with the No. 3 Chevy and was shadowed by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou in the No. 10 Honda (1m34.9513s).

Andretti Global’s Will Power was an encouraging third in the No. 26 Honda (1m35.3051s) but well adrift of McLaughlin and Palou while the rest of the top six was close to Power as Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward (1m35.3641s) in the No. 5 Chevy and Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist in the No. 60 Honda (1m35.3775s) were on the same tenth of a second.

Andretti’s Marcus Ericsson – quick again on a street course – was sixth in the No. 28 Honda (1m35.6274s).

Elsewhere, the third member of the Andretti trio in Kyle Kirkwood, who normally shines on tracks like Arlington, was a distant 15th, 1.4s shy of the leader. He was one position ahead of Phoenix winner and championship leader Josef Newgarden from Team Penske. Representing ECR and the event’s title sponsor Alexander Rossi was swift in seventh with the No. 20 Chevy and breakout rookie talent Dennis Hauger made his presence felt once again after running 10th in the No. 19 Dale Coyne Racing Honda. Graham Rahal also gave Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing a reason to be encouraged after placing 11th.

Typical first-session dramas were largely avoided as the three stages to Friday’s lone session produced only two modest incidents – both self-inspired – as Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Sting Ray Robb appeared to lose control of the No. 77 Chevy over the ever-present bumps and smacked the wall with the right side of his car. Late in the running, Rosenqvist – just after posting his best lap – tagged the wall with the left-rear corner and bent his suspension. The Meyer Shank driver and Robb should have no issues being on track Saturday morning.

AS IT HAPPENED

Ten minutes into the 40-minute full-field session and Rossi was one of only five drivers to turn a lap at speed and led the group with a 1m42s lap.

With 12 minutes gone, 12 drivers were active with Rossi leading the field at 1m37.730s

After 14 minutes, Robb produced the first stoppage of the event when he hit the wall under braking entering Turn 1 and broke the front wing and appeared to bend at least the right-front suspension on his No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevy. His days is done after five laps. That will hurt for the rest of the weekend.

As the session resumed, Palou took P1 with a 1m36.9336s.

With 32 minutes gone, McLaughlin took P1 at 1m35.846s.

As the 40-minute window closed it was O’Ward in P1 with a 1m35.686s lap, McLaughlin with his 1m35.846s, and Penske teammate David Malukas in P3 at 1m36.258s.

Shifting to the split groups and the first gathering of 13 drivers, the opening 12-minute session saw Romain Grosjean take P1 at 1m38.799s as the clock wound down to nine minutes left. McLaughlin jumped ahead moments later with a 1m35.196s and had Power at 1m35.851s behind in P2. Sampling Firestone’s softer and faster alternate tires was the mission for everyone.

At the halfway point, McLaughlin improved his P1 lap to 1m34.892s and kept it to the end with Power and improved 1m35.3051s in P2 and O’Ward in P3 with a 1m35.3641s. With the session almost down to zero, Rosenqvist both improved to P4 and hit the wall which bend the toe link on the left-rear suspension.

The closing 12-minute session for the 12 remaining drivers got under way and it took five minutes for the first representative lap to be generated as Palou delivered a 1m35.669s. His next lap was a 1m34.951s to lower his P1 time. Rossi was second at 1m35.669s.

The farewell to Arlington’s first-ever session ended with Palou at 1m34.951s, Rossi at 1m35.669s and Christian Lundgaard in P3 at 1m35.689s.

UP NEXT: Practice 2, Saturday, 9:35-10:55am ET

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