Photo credit: Penske Entertainment | Joe Skibinski
IndyCar points leader Pato O’Ward opened the Grand Prix of Long Beach atop the practice timesheets on Friday with a fastest lap of 1:06.6999, nearly three tenths ahead of second-fastest Scott Dixon’s time of 1:06.9649. 2021 winner Colton Herta and 2022 Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson were close behind with times of 1:06.9808 and 1:06.9859, respectively, the only drivers to make it into the 1:06 range. O’Ward’s Arrow McLaren teammate Alexander Rossi rounded out the top five with a time of 1:07.0104.
Several drivers spun in the 75-minute session on the partially repaved street circuit, but the session was only stopped once, for Helio Castroneves stalling coming out of the hairpin; he came in 24th on the timesheets at 1:07.9204. 2022 Long Beach winner Josef Newgarden’s contact with the wall necessitated a quick taping on the side of the car, and he would ultimately bring the car in early from the session, recording the 14th fastest time at 1:07.4273. Agustin Canapino was the only other car to have major difficulties, though his were mechanical in nature, stopping twice during the session on the way to 23rd-fastest with a time of 1:07.8087.
Three cars each from Andretti Autosport, Arrow McLaren, and Chip Ganassi Racing were in the top 11. Andretti’s Romain Grosjean came in 6th with a time of 1:07.1049, ahead of 2021 champion Alex Palou at 1:07.1515 for Ganassi and Juncos Hollinger’s Callum Ilott at 1:07.2467. Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist (1:07.3135) and Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Christian Lundgaard (1:07.3237) rounded out the top 10, just ahead of the third-quick Andretti car of Kyle Kirkwood (1:07.3355). Marcus Armstrong was the fastest rookie in the fourth Ganassi car, setting a time of 1:07.5392, good enough for 19th fastest. All told, most of the grid—21 of the 27 cars—were within one second of O’Ward’s fastest time.
