Facing this weekend a good opportunity to reduce the 47 points that separate him from the leadership, Alex Palou got off to a good start in the Mid-Ohio 200 by finishing second in free practice on Friday. The Spanish rider, who climbed to the podium in this race last year by finishing third, completed a productive day with 24 laps to his credit and a best time of 1:07.261just nine thousandths shy of the time Josef Newgarden led this same session in 2021.
In fact, newgarden himselfwho won last year’s edition and obtained his third victory of the year at Road America, has once again been the fastest in these early stages with a lap of 1:07,054, showing immediate speed that teammates Scott McLaughlin (10th) and Will Power (14th) couldn’t replicate. Third, he concluded a Felix Rosenqvist which also enjoys good precedents on this track, and which led to a good day for McLaren SP in which Duck O’Ward finished sixth.
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In his less and less surprising status as a solid championship leader, Marcus Ericson does not let go of the prey and revalidates his fantastic form by starting in Mid-Ohio with the fourth fastest time, five places above a Scott Dixon in search of rediscovering himself in his fetish path. For his part, Colton Hertha completed the top 5, two spots ahead of alexander rossi in what could be the prelude to the duel to end the year as the best of Andretti Autosport before Rossi’s departure.
They still need to complete a great weekend together or get a great result, but David Malukas He continues his good adaptation in IndyCar, and his eighth place in these free practices could point to a profitable Sunday on his part. Not far away stands another rookie, Kyle Kirkwood, in a good eleventh position. It is not for less, since his record in Mid-Ohio in junior formulas is almost unbeatable: the pilot of Foyt he won twelve consecutive races on this track, and in his last race here, in the absence of a victory, he ended up taking the Indy Lights title.
The session passed without too much drama, hampered again by the lack of additional tires to take advantage of the extra half hour of running time being tested in recent events. The only notable incident was a runway excursion takuma sato into the gravel that led to a red flag, in addition to another excursion by Romain Grosjean that did not merit an interruption. Free practice on Saturday, the second half of which will run parallel to the Formula 1 qualifying session, will be the last touchstone before a classification (18:45 in Spain) essential due to the importance of the position on the track in Mid-Ohio at a strategic level.
RESULTS OF FRIDAY’S PRACTICE IN MID-OHIO
Photos: IndyCar Media