Indycar Photo by Chris Jones

Series points leader Alex Palou posted the fastest time of the first practice session as th NTT Indycar Series began preparing for tomorrow’s GMR Grand Prix. Palou’s lap of 1:10.4555 nipped rookie Callum Ilott by 0,0038 seconds.

The session was green for the first 43 and a half minutes. Helio Castroneves spun and stalled at pit in bringing out the red flag. There was enough time for one more flying lap, and Palou edged Ilott, who had led for the previous eight minutes.

At one point three former pole winners for this race were at the top of the pylon. Will Power led Felix Rosenqvist and Simon Pagenaud. While the top ten contains no real surprises, Rinus VeeKay, the 2021 winner in 21st is puzzling. Also Josef Newgarden in16th and Scott McLaughlin in 17th is a shock. I think these three will show better in session 2, which begins at 12:45 pm.

I spoke with Callum Ilott after practice.

He told the run was “really good. I just thought we had to improve a couple of things and then at the end we put it together and it was quite good’ We got the new tires I think a lot of other people used the new tires.”

Ilott described the track as “Really green because as the painted part for the oval transferring off of that onto the road course was a little bit different so we had to rubber it in.”

As far as changes for session two, Ilott thinks the team will make a few.

“I think so. I just haven’t told them everything I was feeling so I think they’re making the changes. “

Notes

Fans are slowly entering the track.

It has been nice seeing people I haven’t seen since 2019. I’m glad to see that they are healthy.

The Wifi in the stands seems to be improved.

I continue to be impressed by the cleanliness of IMS since Roger Penske bought the track.

Matthew brabham won the pole position for Indy Lights Race 1.

Back after Practice 2.

Results: