In the middle of a week of movements, announcements and rumours, Kyle Kirkwood He has been one of the great protagonists in confirming his future incorporation to Andretti Autosport for the 2023 IndyCar season, filling the vacancy that Alexander Rossi will leave with his already announced departure to McLaren SP. Aiming to make a splash in the more than half season that lies ahead, Kirkwood has already managed to turn some heads by lead the first practice session of the Detroit Grand Prixin which he will have double duty by also competing in the IMSA championship event.
The AJ Foyt Racing rookie, who was 17th in the standings, took advantage of the extra set of tires available to first-year drivers and the improvement of the track to record a time of 1:16,134 on the Belle Isle track with just three minutes to go, which no one could lay their hands on. Even with the positives, none of the other rookies came close to nearly as long, even though Kirkwood he drives for one of the most modest teams in the championship in terms of resources, with which it has already obtained a top 10 in urban Long Beach.
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To give it even a little more credit, Kirkwood was the only one who played in the same league as Pato O’Ward.. The Mexican, also sweet due to his recent renewal and his second place in the last 500 miles of Indianapolis, was 21 thousandths away from leading the day with a time that he recorded 15 minutes from the end, considerably improving another with which he was already leading the board. Curiously, In third position finished Rossi, his future teammate at McLaren SPwhose logos he wore hours before at the press conference for his presentation with the team.
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Meyer Shank Racing put on a strong performance in terms of times with the fourth position of Simon Pagenaud and the seventh of Hélio Castroneves, although the Frenchman suffered a small mechanical mishap with the gearbox that cost him a track exit. in between, in fifth position, Marcus Ericsson finishedthe current winner of the Indy 500 from that same position on the grid and current leader of the general classification, in addition to one of the two current winners of a test in which he already achieved his first podium in 2019.
The rest of the occupants of the top 10 will try to turn their respective misfortunes in Indianapolis on Belle Isle, with Colton Herta in the sixth position and Scott McLaughlin in eighth ahead of Romain Grosjean and Scott Dixon. You have to go down to twelfth place to find Álex Palou, who did not have very outstanding times. The Spanish rider got on the podium here last year, but his best reference in these early stages was 1: 17.252 in the best of his 15 laps during a session that had two red flag interruptionswhich did not exceed 15 minutes in total duration and did not subtract time from the 45-minute session.
The slightest occurred with the session just started, when Dalton Kellett was left lying on the track with a gearbox problem. The Canadian then managed to get back on track to prepare for a weekend in which he will have to serve a six-place grid penalty for replacing his Indy 500 race engine before the event. things were worse for Felix Rosenqvistwrapped up in the rumor mill about this week’s seat changes, and who ended up semi-wrapped in the tire barrier at turn 1, on his return to a Belle Isle where he suffered a strange and very violent accident in the first race of 2021.
RESULTS OF PRIZE 1 OF THE DETROIT GP
Photos: IndyCar Media