Kirkwood tops opening IndyCar Freedom 250 practice

Rain greeted the IndyCar Series’ 10 teams and 25 drivers Saturday morning ahead of the first practice session for the inaugural Freedom 250 Grand Prix in Washington, D.C., and after it got going following a weather-related delay, Kyle Kirkwood was fastest.

The Andretti Global driver turned a lap of 57.374s in the No. 27 Honda to lead Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou in the No. 10 Honda (57.612s), Dale Coyne Racing’s Dennis Hauger in the No. 19 Honda (57.738s), David Malukas in the No. 12 Chevy (57.745s), Andretti’s Marcus Ericsson in the No. 28 Honda (57.800s) and Penske’s Josef Newgarden in the No. 2 Chevy (57.982s).

"Very cool," Palou said. "It was a hectic session there with starting on wet, [with] the track just evolving a lot. I think it's going to have the opportunity to evolve a lot in practice two.

"First, I didn't know if it was going to be fun or not to drive. It's a blast, super fun. Very bumpy, huge bumps heading into Turn 2 and Turn 6. Massive bumps that are going to spice things up. I think it's actually going to create good racing just because it's quite tough to go over there and have good braking and also have good traction when the bumps are on exits. Yeah, really fun. Incredible to see the Capitol Hill, exit of [Turn] 7, just an incredible experience. Yeah, so far super happy. Looking forward to see what we can do in practice two."

Power improved the standard to 1m05.0s after 20 minutes as the track continued to dry but wasn’t dry enough for slick tires; all drivers, barring Alex Palou and Alexander Rossi had ventured out. With 12 minutes left, Lundgaard was the first to fire in a fast lap on slicks with a 1m02.0s. With six minutes left, Lundgaard improved his best to 1m00.1s as almost the field made use of slicks.

With three minutes remaining, Rinus VeeKay shot to first at 59.4s. With 30 seconds to go, Power retook the lead with a lap of 58.9s and then it settled with Rossi in P1 at 58.4s, VeeKay in P2 at 58.8, Power in P3 at 58.9 and Palou in P4 at 59.1. Lundgaard managed to hit the wall and bend his right-side suspension which ended his session while down in P16.

In the move to the first 12-minute split group, Power found the wall nearing the halfway point and pitted for a damage inspection. Kirkwood was the first to set a strong lap on Firestone’s fastest alternate tires with a 57.4s lap. The session ended with Kirkwood in P1 at 57.374s ahead of Ericsson at 57.800s in P2 and Newgarden in P3 at 57.982s. Like Power, Romain Grosjean also found the wall.

In the second session, Palou was the first to post a proper lap at 57.9s with five minutes remaining. Palou improved to a 57.6s on Firestone primaries. It stood at the checkered flag with Palou in P1 at 57.612s ahead of Hauger in P2 at 57.738s and Malukas in P3 at 57.745s.

UP NEXT: Practice 2, 1pm ET

RESULTS to follow