Late turn of speed puts O’Ward ahead in opening WWTR IndyCar practice

The one-hour opening practice session at World Wide Technology Raceway featured a volley of drivers taking the top spot on the 1.25-mile oval. Alex Palou led the first stretch before Scott McLaughlin and then Marcus Armstrong took over before Palou returned to the lead the session until the final lap, when Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward shot to first with a lap of 172.696mph in the No. 5 Chevy.

Palou held onto second with the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda (172.238mph) ahead of Felix Rosenqvist in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda (172.073mph) and his MSR teammate Armstrong in the No. 66 Honda (171.925mph), Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson in the No. 28 Honda (171.671mph) was fifth followed by Team Penske’s David Malukas in the No. 12 Chevy in sixth (171.625mph).

“Very good so far,” Palou said. “I had a super clean run. I think it’s going to be very tight. So far, I’m happier than I’ve ever been at this track.”

After 40 minutes of running, the lone incident of the session took place as Rinus VeeKay encountered oversteer at Turn 3 and was pitched into a half spin that broke the rear wing from its mount as he backed into the wall. VeeKay, who’d moved to third just before the crash, was uninjured but the No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevy was too damaged to continue for the rest of the session. As drivers performed more qualifying simulation runs, VeeKay fell to 14th by the checkered flag.

UP NEXT: Qualifying, 4:30pm ET

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