Thermal Club, California is the first road course of the 2025 NTT IndyCar season, and cars were raring to go around the unique track for FP1, full report and results below.
Last year IndyCar came to Thermal but the weekend had no championship points on the table with drivers fighting for $1 million instead. However, this year everything is to play for.
Alex Palou dominated around the Thermal Club last year, but there was the feeling across the grid that the grid was going to be much closer this time around.
David Malukas was one of the first drivers to head out on track with his AJ Foyt machinery. Making the move to Penske for 2025 has proven to be a strong move for the driver. He ran wide in the early corners. The characteristic bumps of the Thermal Club caused Malukas to kick up dust.
Kyffin Simpson’s Chip Ganassi Racing was the first car to cross the line on a flying lap, putting in a 1:45.1207. However, as the grid funnelled through the corners of the Thermal Club, the times quickly tumbled.
Scott Mclaughlin managed the fastest time with an impressive 1:43.4406. Behind him was Christian Lungaard and Pato O’Ward making it a fast Arrow McLaren 2-3.
Red Flag
Teams were jumping up the order with every lap seemingly faster than the last when the PREMA of Robert Schwartzman was seen stopped on the side of the track. The Italian team is new to IndyCar for the 2025 season. They made the move to the States after success in the European feeder series.
However, with Schwartzman’s PREMA on fire and the driver out of the car, the session was red-flagged and the safety crew began to put out the fire.
It had been a difficult start to the season for PREMA with issues in St. Pete and now issues in Thermal. Later in the session, it was revealed that Schwartzman suffered a fuel cell issue which would involve heavy work to rebuild the car.
Green flag
As the PREMA was cleared the green flag was waved again and the car made its way back on track with just eight minutes left in the first part of the session.
There was a cloud of dust that crossed the track with Felix Rosenqvist’s Meyer Shank ran over the line. He held on and regained control.
McLaughlin held onto the lead at the front of the pack into the final minutes of the session. However, Kyle Kirkwood crossed the line with a 1:41.8709.
As the drivers were adjusting to the conditions the cars managed to find their footing. The second Andretti of Marcus Ericsson slipped in behind his teammate with a 1:42.2341. Herta made it an Andretti top 3 and crossed the line eight-tenths behind Kirkwood with a 1:42.6078.
Alex Palou showed the same impressive speed he had around the Thermal Club track in 2024 moving up to third with a 1:42.3246.
Graham Rahal came on to the radio, noting how the tyres were falling apart after just one lap. Despite being on the harder, black-walled tyres. An ominous sign with the drivers getting ready to test out the red-walled, softer compound tyre.
All Car Results:
1. Kirkwood
2. Ericsson
3. Palou
4. Herta
5. McLaughlin
6. Lundgaard
7. Rahal
8. Dixon
9. Ilott
10. Newgarden
11. Power
12. O’Ward
13. Armstrong
14. Rossi
15. Rosenqvist
16. Ferrucci
17. VeeKay
18. DeFrancesco
19. Malukas
20. Daly
21. Rasmussen
22. Robb
23. Foster
24. Simpson
25. Siegel
26. Abel
27. Shwartzman
Group 1
The field was then split into two groups to give each half of the grid a cleaner track to run. The only drivers allowed to take part in both sessions were the rookies.
With just ten minutes for each group, cars wasted no time getting out on track. It was to figure out the level of degradation on the softer tyres ahead of the race.
Devlin DeFrancesco was the first driver to put in a time on par with the hard compound laps with a 1:41.9859. Conor Daly and Josef Newgarden did not allow DeFrancesco to savour the moment as they topped the times with a 1:41.835 and 1:41.765 respectively.
Once again as the drivers got comfortable around the track the lap times began to fall. Felix Rosenqvist put his Meyer Shank at the front of the field with a 1:41.213. With Kyffin Simpson closely behind with a 1:41.615.
Alexander Rossi found himself in third place with a 1:41.750. But Rossi came on the radio to complain about an issue with the hybrid system. He headed into the pits.
Rosenqvist’s fastest lap held into the final minute of the session but Will Power moved into second with a 1:41.241. Santino Ferruci slotted into third with a 1:41.396.
Red Flag
However, in the final seconds of the session, DeFrancesco pulled off to a safe area of the track and stopped his car. This was another powertrain issue hitting a team around Thermal Club.
Luckily, the red flag was brief and seven drivers went out for a final run in the first group, desperately managing the soft tyres to keep them from falling apart before their final flying lap.
Colton Herta crossed the line breaking into the 1:40s with an impressive 1:40.8439. Behind him at the end of the Group 1 session was Felix Rosenqvist and Will Power.
Group 1 results:
1. Herta
2. Rosenqvist
3. Power
4. Ferrucci
5. Dixon
6. Simpson
7. Rossi
8. Newgarden
9. Daly
10. Rahal
11. DeFrancesco
12. Lundgaard
13. Foster
14. Abel
15. Shwartzman
Group 2
Once again with just ten minutes in the Group 2 session, cars wasted no time getting out on track. Some drivers opted to run the black-walled harder compound for the first part of this short session.
Stingray Robb was the first driver to put a fast lap on the red-walled tyres with a 1:41.6209. But the rookie Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing car of Louis Foster crossed the line not long after with a 1:41.1388.
Christian Rasmussen was the first driver in Group 2 to break into the 1:40s with a 1:40.872. However, Kyle Kirkwood’s Andretti crossed the line to put in the fastest time of the day at that point. With a time of 1:40.638.
Alex Palou recieved a drive through penalty for leaving the pit box early. But he made up for the mistake as he went fastest with one minute to go. Palou’s time of 1:40.5486 showed the pace that everyone expected from the reigning champion.
As the Group 2 session came to an end, Alex Palou held the fastest lap of the day with a 1:40.548. He was followed by Kyle Kirkwood with a 1:40.638 and Marcus Ericsson with a 1:40.736.
Group 2 Results:
1. Palou
2. Kirkwood
3. Ericsson
4. Rasmussen
5. O’Ward
6. McLaughlin
7. Foster
8. Ilott
9. Robb
10. Armstrong
11. Malukas
12. Siegel
13. VeeKay
14. Abel
15. Shwartzman
Top 10 overall
1. Palou
2. Kirkwood
3. Ericsson
4. Herta
5. Rasmussen
6. O’Ward
7. McLaughlin
8. Foster
9. Rosenqvist
10. Power
