Practice report
IndyCar Portland
IndyCar Portland: Lundgaard sets searing pace in first practice
Christian Lundgaard paced the opening IndyCar Series practice that was impeded by multiple red flags at Portland International Raceway.
Joey Barnes
Edited: Sep 2, 2023, 12:40 AM
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The Dane’s rise to the top spot came on a set of alternate, red sidewall tires with his Honda-powered Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing entry, putting down a flying lap of 58.1776s around the 1.964-mile, 12-turn natural terrain road course.
It was only the second time Lundgaard led a practice session in the IndyCar Series, having previously done so last year on the streets of Nashville.
Andretti Autosport’s Kyle Kirkwood ended up second, trailing Lundgaard by 0.1470s.
Championship leader Alex Palou was third quickest overall – and on the alternates – at 0.779s off the top spot. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver did lead a portion of the early running on primary, black sidewall tires. The Arrow McLaren duo of Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist ended up fourth and fifth, respectively.
Dale Coyne Racing’s David Malukas was sixth, followed by the No. 28 Andretti Autosport entry of Romain Grosjean.
Rinus VeeKay, who ended up eighth-fastest overall, was the fastest on the primary tires. The Dutch driver slapped together a lap of 58.783s with 20 minutes remaining before being dethroned by Lundgaard’s quick lap on the alternates, which began a chain reaction of drivers switching to the preferred rubber.
Alexander Rossi came away ninth, providing Arrow McLaren with all three of its entries in the top 10.
Josef Newgarden was the best representative for Team Penske in 10th, 0.5957s behind Lundgaard.
Juri Vips, who is making his IndyCar debut in the No. 30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, put in a respectable effort to finish 15th. Defending race winner and pole-sitter Scott McLaughlin was 16th of the 27 cars.
The first red flag came just under 20 minutes into the session when Rosenqvist dropped wheels in Turn 12 before sliding nose-first into the tire barrier, albeit with light contact.
Ed Carpenter Racing’s Ryan Hunter-Reay had an off entering Turn 12, with the backend snapping out briefly, which was enough to drift him off course before catching it and returning to the track, 25 minutes into the session.
A second red flag came out moments later after Santino Ferrrucci spun at the exit of Turn 6 and stalling at Turn 7. However, he was able to continue after the AMR Safety Team helped refire the No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet.
The issues continued to persist for Hunter-Reay, who brought out a third stoppage with roughly 40 minutes remaining in the session. The Floridian was pushing through the final section and drifted wide and was darting into Turn 12 when the backend snapped once more, and he ended up stalled coming onto the frontstretch.
Fortunately, he didn’t make any contact and, with assistance, was able to continue on.
Team Penske’s Will Power spun out of Turn 2 with 27 minutes left but was able to quickly whip around and continue on and no impede the session. With just under six minutes left, Colton Herta ended up off course in Turn 6 pushing in a late run on the alternate tire compound before returning his Andretti Autosport Honda to the pits.
Hunter-Reay has been handed a six-position starting grid penalty by INDYCAR officials for an unapproved engine change at the previous round in St. Louis.
Main Information Additional Data Driver Info
Driver Info
Main Information
Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval Mph 1 C. Lundgaard Christian Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 45 39 58.1776 121.531 2
K. Kirkwood Kyle Kirkwood Andretti Autosport 27 18 +0.1470 0.1470 121.225 3
A. Palou Alex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing 10 25 +0.1779 0.0309 121.161 4
P. O'Ward Patricio O'Ward Arrow McLaren 5 26 +0.2322 0.0543 121.048 5
F. Rosenqvist Felix Rosenqvist Arrow McLaren 6 28 +0.4652 0.2330 120.567 6
D. Malukas David Malukas Dale Coyne Racing 18 23 +0.5323 0.0671 120.429 7
R. Grosjean Romain Grosjean Andretti Autosport 28 29 +0.5477 0.0154 120.398 8
R. van Kalmthout Rinus van Kalmthout Ed Carpenter Racing 21 33 +0.5569 0.0092 120.379 9
A. Rossi Alexander Rossi Arrow McLaren 7 28 +0.5780 0.0211 120.336 10
J. Newgarden Josef Newgarden Team Penske 2 32 +0.5957 0.0177 120.300 11
D. DeFrancesco Devlin DeFrancesco Andretti Autosport 29 25 +0.6526 0.0569 120.183 12
M. Ericsson Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing 8 27 +0.6731 0.0205 120.141 13
M. Armstrong Marcus Armstrong Chip Ganassi Racing 11 37 +0.7571 0.0840 119.970 14
C. Ilott Callum Ilott Juncos Hollinger Racing 77 25 +0.7594 0.0023 119.965 15
J. Vips Jüri Vips Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 30 39 +0.8441 0.0847 119.793 16
S. McLaughlin Scott McLaughlin Team Penske 3 25 +0.8453 0.0012 119.791 17
W. Power Will Power Team Penske 12 28 +0.8478 0.0025 119.786 18
G. Rahal Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 15 26 +0.8508 0.0030 119.780 19
S. Dixon Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing 9 25 +0.8681 0.0173 119.745 20
C. Herta Colton Herta Andretti Autosport 26 25 +0.8844 0.0163 119.711 21
H. Castroneves Helio Castroneves Meyer Shank Racing 06 23 +0.8971 0.0127 119.686 22
A. Canapino Agustin Canapino Juncos Hollinger Racing 78 35 +1.1177 0.2206 119.240 23
B. Pedersen Benjamin Pedersen A.J. Foyt Enterprises 55 41 +1.1877 0.0700 119.100 24
R. Hunter-Reay Ryan Hunter-Reay Ed Carpenter Racing 20 27 +1.4412 0.2535 118.593 25
S. Ferrucci Santino Ferrucci A.J. Foyt Enterprises 14 28 +1.4724 0.0312 118.531 26
R. Robb Ray Robb Dale Coyne Racing
51 28 +1.5062 0.0338 118.464 27 T. Blomqvist Tom Blomqvist Meyer Shank Racing 60 35 +1.6642 0.1580 118.152 View full results
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