Josef Newgarden led the openeing practcie round for the Honda Indy 200 nwith a lap of 1:07.0549. Alex Palou was second, 0,2061 seconds behind. Newgarden was fastest on both the primary and alternate tires.

Takuma Sato brought ot the only red flag of the session when he spun going into turn 1 about 35 minutes into the session.

The temperature reachede 91 degrees during the practice. Newgarden said he felt it and couldn’t wait to get out of the car. He also felt it affected the grip.

“I think the temp definitely made the track grip low. It felt very difficult to drive the car today, to bring it up to temperature. Firestone has a new tire here from last year, and it’s tougher to bring up to temp.
Feels like a little less grip.”

Colton Herta, who was fifth fastest today, reflected on last year’s pit issue and what the team hopoes tro find this year.

“We were very fast last year. Up until that pit stop we
were able to stay with Josef. We just need to find a little bit
more time. I think I know what I’m looking for in the race
car, and it’s going to be — if we can find it or not.”

David Malkukas, who had the eightth fastest time, is extremely happy wqith his rookie season.

“…, everything has gonebetter than I was expecting to be honest. I’ve been in here, I wasn’t expecting to be in here at all for this season, and
the fact that we are and being more consistent, it’s making
me very happy, and honestly from start to finish it’s gone
better than I was expecting.”

Tomorrow and Siunday the temperatures will be between eight to ten degrees coolere. Newgarden believes the cooler temperatures will increase the grip.

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