Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin was the fastest driver on Friday at the BitNile.com Grand Prix of Portland. The New Zealander’s No. 3 Chevy paced the field of 28 cars with a best lap of 58.3669s under heavily overcast skies and the threat of rain, which waited until the checkered flag to appear.
“Portland, it’s not an easy place to put together a full lap,” McLaughlin said. “These corners take precision, and that is something that takes a few laps to work up to because there are slow corners but also some of the quickest corners we see all year long. It’s super important to think about how each corner sets up for the next section.
“It’s a fun challenge, and it’s a place we’ve had some success on already in my career. I think most people would assume that we have the last three races on ovals circled as places to capitalize on, but we are confident here at Portland, as well.”
Behind the Kiwi was championship leader and defending Portland winner Alex Palou in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda (58.4337s) and Palou’s teammate Marcus Armstrong was third in the No. 11 Honda (58.6095s).
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Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi was a charging fifth; he was quick immediately and didn’t let a spin at the Turn 1 chicane interrupt his session in the No. 7 Chevy (58.6705s) and had Ganassi’s Scott Dixon close behind in sixth with the No. 9 Honda (58.7043s).
Elsewhere, Meyer Shank Racing’s David Malukas was strong in seventh, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Pietro Fittipaldi, who attacked the course with great vigor, led the RLL team in 12th, the most recent race winner Josef Newgarden was 16th for Penske, and after a year out of the cockpit, RLL’s Juri Vips impressed in 20th.
At the bottom of the field, Dale Coyne Racing’s Toby Sowery had his session cut short with a clutch issue and Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Conor Daly only got five laps in before a fuel pressure problem intervened.
UP NEXT: Second practice, Saturday at noon ET.