Pato O’Ward took the honors in Friday evening’s final practice session ahead of tomorrow’s NTT IndyCar Series race at WWTR.
O’Ward covered the 1.25 miles at a 174.708mph average in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, leaving Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson to settle for second-fastest at 174.191mph in the No. 28 Honda.
Ericsson’s Andretti teammate Colton Herta rebounded from his qualifying crash (and a black flag for not high-lining enough during the short High-Line session that immediately preceded practice) to go third-fastest in the repaired No. 26 at 173.698mph. That was just enough to keep him clear of Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden (173.685mph), while Kyle Kirkwood planted another flag for Andretti by claiming fifth-fastest with a best of 173.659mph.
For most of the field, the evening was about making liberal use of the high line, which had revealed itself to be gripper than expected during the High-Line session, and trying to work out how the evening conditions would translate to a race that will start a few hours earlier in the day.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1408]
And for some, it was about making up for lost time. That included both of the Dale Coyne Racing cars, which rebounded from completing zero laps between them in qualifying to have a productive evening. Jack Harvey, whose qualifying hopes were squashed by a software glitch in the No. 18 Honda’s hybrid system, ran 64 laps to finish 22nd fastest, while Katherine Legge, whose No. 51 was miles off the pace in first practice and didn’t participate in qualifying at all, bounced back to cover 59 laps and end the day in P25.
The session didn’t pass without a couple of scares, the first of which involved Arrow McLaren’s Nolan Siegel, whose No. 6 Chevrolet suffered a sudden right-front tire failure. Mercifully, it occurred while he was on a straight and he was able to return to the pits safely. He was running third-fastest at the time, and held on for ninth-fastest at the checker.
Then, with just under five minutes left on the clock, Conor Daly caught the wall at Turn 2. He, too, was able to avoid serious damage and return to the pits under his own power.
The only other caution was for a track inspection with 17 minutes remaining.
UP NEXT: Race, Saturday, 6:15 p.m. ET