David Malukas was in the headlines earlier this week when he announced his move to A.J. Foyt Racing for next year, and he claimed the spotlight again at World Wide Technology Raceway on Friday by putting the No. 66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda at the top of the times in the opening NTT IndyCar Series practice session.
Malukas’s best of 178.830mph came with just under 10 minutes of the hour-long session remaining, leaving Andretti Global’s Colton Herta as best of the rest with a 178.411mph effort in the No. 26 Honda.
What was shaping up to be a very Honda-heavy top five was countered by a late 117.940mph from Scott McLaughlin in the No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet that was good enough for third-fastest, putting him just ahead of teammate Will Power in the No. 12.
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Current points leader Alex Palou rounded out the top five in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda — an encouraging sign for the Spaniard, who will have some extra work to do in tomorrow’s race after being one of four drivers issued with a nine-place grid penalty for unapproved engine changes.
Behind him, Romain Grosjean got Juncos Hollinger Racing’s weekend off to a solid start by finishing sixth fastest in the No. 77 Chevrolet, and new teammate Conor Daly also spent a good part of the session in the top 10 before dropping back to 12th in the latter stages.
Meyer Shank’s Felix Rosenqvist — another driver with a grid penalty this weekend – was seventh fastest ahead of Marcus Ericsson (No. 28 Andretti Global Honda). Nolan Siegel, who has the experienced Brian Campe calling strategy this weekend after the sudden departure of engineer Robert Gue, finished up ninth fastest in the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, leaving the No. 28 Honda of Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood to complete the top 10.
A largely uneventful session was punctuated by just one caution, caused by Ganassi’s Linus Lundqvist stopping on the back straightaway with a hybrid problem. Meawhile, A.J. Foyt Racing pushed Sting Ray Robb’s car back behind the wall after its first installation lap, but he returned to complete a productive 42 laps.
UP NEXT: Qualifying, 4:20pm ET.