IndyCar | FP1 | Long Beach | Power paces the Andrettis - Motorsport

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The action at the iconic Long Beach circuit got underway Friday afternoon as IndyCar FP1 took place under blue skies, full report and results below.

As is standard in IndyCar practice, the rookies went out early to get a feel for track with an extra set of tyres as well the big guns sat on pit road waiting for better conditions.

A 1:09.3951 from Louis Foster put him 4s clear of Robert Shwartzman after 10 minutes, with Jacob Abel a further 4 seconds back.

After Will Power went top, Sting Ray Robb was the first driver into the 1:08s as he logged a 1:08.866. However, Scott McLaughlin soon smashed that as a 1:08.101 put him over 0.7s clear of the field.

The New Zealander lowered that to a .027 soon after, but teammate Power responded with a 1:08.010 to go less than two hundredths quicker. O’Ward, Rasmussen and Malukas followed as the big Honda runners took their time to come out.

On the exit of turn 11, Pato O’Ward coloured the wall and broke the left rear toe link on his car. Fortunately for him, the pit entry was just a few meters away.

Unsurprisingly, Alex Palou immediately showed his speed when he joined the action. A 1:07.636 from Alex Palou put him 0.3s clear of Felix Rosenqvist. Power, McLaughlin and Malukas rounded out the top 5 halfway through the session.

Two-time series champion Josef Newgarden got himself into the mix as a 1:07.785 put him between Palou and Rosenqvist at the front. That meant all three Penskes placed themselves in the top 5 with 16 minutes remaining.

At turn 9, Colton Herta had a big right front lock up over the bump and was forced to go straight on. Callum Ilott had a similar issue in a separate moment.

Palou led Newgarden, Rosenqvist, Power, McLaughlin, Armstrong, Dixon, Malukas, O’Ward and Foster but the softer tyre appeared for a few drivers.

Down at turn 1, a left front lock up from Robb saw the Juncos driver head down the run off.

Lundgaard (P2), Siegel (P4), McLaughlin (P5), Kirkwood (P7) all made late improvements as the chequered flag fell on the first part of the session at Long Beach.

Long Beach FP1 IndyCar full field results

Palou 1:07.636
Lundgaard 1:07.710
Newgarden 1:07.785
Siegel 1:07.860
McLaughlin 1:07.900
Rosenqvist 1:07.944
Kirkwood 1:07.997
Power 1:08.010
Armstrong 1:08.169
Dixon 1:08.236
Malukas 1:08.247
O’Ward 1:08.252
Ericsson 1:08.266
Foster 1:08.296
Rahal 1:08.422
Ilott 1:08.629
Herta 1:08.634
Rossi 1:08.716
Rasmuseen 1:08.735
Daly 1:08.778
Simpson 1:08.861
Robb 1:08.866
Shwartzman 1:08.886
DeFrancesco 1:08.904
VeeKay 1:09.127
Ferrucci 1:09.216
Abel 1:10.224

Group 1

Drivers in this session: Palou, McLaughlin, O’Ward, Kirkwood, Ericsson, Rasmussen, Robb, Siegel, Armstrong, Malukas, VeeKay, Ilott, Shwartzman, Foster and Abel

On the softer tyre, the Andrettis came alive. Marcus Ericsson logged a 1:07.350 to be 0.002s quicker than teammate Kyle Kirkwood. Armstrong was a hundredth off in a very close Group 1.

Alex Palou only found a tenth on the softer tyre compared to his full field time. A superb job by the McLaren mechanics allowed Pato O’Ward to complete two laps at the end and he clocked the fifth fastest time.

Foster, Malukas, Rasmussen, McLaughlin and Robb completed the top 10. Shwartzman, Siegel, Ilott, Abel and VeeKay completed the order.

Group 1 Long Beach IndyCar FP1 classification and results

Ericsson 1:07.350
Kirkwood 1:07.352
Armstrong 1:07.360
Palou 1:07.530
O’Ward 1:07.947
Foster 1:08.127
Malukas 1:08.129
Rasmussen 1:08.515
McLaughlin 1:08.516
Robb 1:08.558
Shwartzman 1:08.615
Siegel 1:08.762
Ilott 1:09.178
Abel 1:11.432
VeeKay 1:14.149

Group 2

Drivers in this session: Newgarden, Dixon, Power, Herta, Lundgaard, Rossi, Rosenqvist, Rahal, Ferrucci, DeFrancesco, Simpson, Daly, Shwartzman, Foster and Abel

Down at turn 1, Will Power had massive rear locking and went straight, eventually getting out of the run off.

While Power was having issues, teammate Josef Newgarden smashed in a 1:07.519, almost 0.6s clear of Conor Daly.

A red flag was thrown with just over 2 minutes ago. Louis Foster had a lock up down at turn 9 and got stuck in the run off as he lost the engine trying to turn the car.

One last chance delivered a flurry of improvements. As it looked like Felix Rosenqvist was going to lead Group 2, IndyCar record pole holder Will Power nicked it away, clocking the fastest time overall in the process from the Andrettis in the opening group. Herta and Dixon moved themselves into the top 5.