Josef Newgarden set a time 0s206 faster than Álex Palou and opened the Mid-Ohio GP weekend in the lead. Helio Castroneves was in the top-15
Winner in 2021, The American Josef Newgarden started the weekend of the Mid-Ohio GP in the lead. In the activity held in Lexington, on Friday (1), the Penske driver, third in the championship, clocked 1min07s054 to top the chart in the first free practice.
Reigning champion Ganassi's Álex Palou was second, 0s206s slower than Penske's American, and was followed by the McLaren of Swedish Felix Rosenqvist. Championship leader Marcus Ericsson was fourth, and Andretti's Colton Herta rounded out the top five.
McLaren's Mexican Pato O'Ward was sixth, followed by Americans Alexander Rossi and David Malukas, and New Zealanders Scott Dixon and Scott McLaughlin, who rounded out the top-10.
Meyer Shank's Brazilian Helio Castroneves was 13th in the activity, with a time of 1min07s746. He was ahead of teammate Simon Pagenaud, who was 18th.
The second free practice of the Mid-Ohio GP is scheduled for 10:30 am (Brasília) on Saturday (2), while qualifying will take place at 3:45 pm, with full coverage of GRANDE PRÊMIO.
Learn how was Indy's free practice 1 at Mid-Ohio:
The free practice started at 4:30 pm (Brasília time) with 75 minutes on the clock. The first 15 minutes were practically dedicated to installation laps and first adjustments in the cars. Dale Coyne's David Malukas opened the timesheet, clocking 1min08s483 to jump to first place.
With 30 minutes of free practice, Malukas was in the lead, with Will Power, Helio Castroneves, Conor Daly, Devlin DeFrancesco, Romain Grosjean, Kyle Kirkwood, Alexander Rossi, Christian Lundgaard and Callum Ilott.
Power knocked Malukas off the pace with a 1min08s374. Patricio O'Ward also did well, going third with a 1min08s566. The first red flag of practice came out at the 35-minute mark, when Takuma Sato spun at turn 1 and stopped in the gravel box. The Dale Coyne Japanese driver was 13th in the standings.
The session was restarted with 35 minutes left on the clock. Sato was penalized and had to stay in the pits for five minutes during the session for having caused a red flag. Penske continued at the top, but with Josef Newgarden, who clocked 1min08s077. Alex Palou and Scott McLaughlin also set better times than Power, who dropped to fourth. Romain Grosjean, in 14th, spun near the pit lane entrance, but avoided the red flag and returned to the pit lane.
With less than 20 minutes to go, David Malukas came up to set a lap time of 1min07s536, retaking the lead on soft tires. Also using soft tires, Álex Palou tried to push Malukas off the lead, setting a 1min07s261. O'Ward and Alexander Rossi also improved their respective times, making up the top three.
In the final stretch of practice, Newgarden retook the lead with a 1min07s054. Marcus Ericsson jumped to third with 1min07s372.
Indy 2022, Mid-Ohio GP, Free Practice 1