Barber Friday Wrap-Up
A day that had been calling for about a 65% chance of rain, ended up being a glorious day at the race track. Of course, there is the old saying that a rainy day at the track is better than a sunny day at work. But imagine how great a sunny day at the track is – that’s what we had today at Barber Motorsports Park.
The NTT IndyCar Series practice did not get going until 2:40 this afternoon. By that time, a cool temperate day had turned quite warm. We were hanging around in the pits during practice. As you can imagine, there is not a lot of shade in the pits. But I think the ambient temperature never got over 75°. There was also a decent breeze blowing. What I’m trying to say is that it was almost a perfect day. I do feel the need to share the obligatory selfie of Susan and me, just before practice got started. It was a really good day.
As far as the opening practice went, it was not so perfect. There were several stoppages as cars went off track or had engine problems. Helio Castroneves went sailing into a gravel pit, as did Will Power. Romain Grosjean’s car started smoking , so his crew asked him to shut it off and he was towed back in.
In the end, it was a mix of young and old. Scott McLaughlin led Practice One with a time of 1:06.6610.
Two-tenths behind McLaughlin, was Colton Herta with a time of 1:06.8193; both of them representing the charge of new young drivers. For the old guys, Will Power clocked in with a time of 1:06.8985, which was good enough for third-quick. Scott Dixon also represented the old guard well, with the fourth-quickest time of the day at 1:06.9345.
The remainder of the Top-Ten was Marcus Ericsson, Christian Lundgaard, Josef Newgarden, Pato O’Ward, Simon Pagenaud and Alex Palou.
All three of Team Penske’s cars were in the Top-Seven. Chip Ganassi had three cars in the Top-Ten, while Andretti Autosport, Meyer Shand Racing, Arrow McLaren and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing each had one car in the Top-Ten. Missing were the cars from Juncos Holinger Racing, Ed Carpenter Racing, Dale Coyne and Foyt. In fact, the two Foyt cars were the two slowest on the track – with Benjamin Pedersen almost three-tenths slower than his teammate, Santino Ferrucci.
Practice Two gets underway at 11:00 CDT on Saturday morning. Qualifying will take place at 2:00 pm Saturday. Both broadcasts will be available on Peacock. Check here in the morning, plus Susan plans to have a post (or two?) here over the weekend.
That will do it for us today. We still need to check into our hotel and then go find a bite to eat. I’m tired but I’m hungry. Please check back tomorrow.
George Phillips
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