LONG BEACH, California – Former Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach winners Simon Pagenaud and Alexander Rossi were the two fastest drivers in Friday’s lone IndyCar practice session.
The third driver on the timing list was current NTT IndyCar Series points leader Scott McLaughlin.
Pagenaud drove his No. 60 SiriusXM/AutoNation Honda to a fast lap at 1:07.1991 around the 11-turn, 1.968-mile street course.
“I just love this race track,” Pagenaud said. “It was very grippy. The car was perfect for the conditions. We just have to keep up with the track now. It was really an enjoyable session.
“Now that I know how the car is, I’m hoping the conditions don’t change, but it will be much cooler on Sunday. It changes the aerodynamics, so we will have to make changes.”
Friday’s high was 96 degrees. It is expected to cool off to an overnight low of 60 degrees with a high on Saturday at 74 degrees.
Sunday’s race day temperatures are forecast for a high at 67 degrees.
Rossi, a back-to-back Long Beach winner in 2018 and 2019 was second at 1:07.6012 in the No. 28 NAPA/AutoNation Honda at Andretti Autosport.
“It’s great to see the turnout we have already,” Rossi said. “On the install lap, it was a great crowd to see on a Friday. It was a great day overall and we’ll be happy to see if we can get the speed even better on Saturday.
“The track will certainly change, for the better. We were blown out of the box by the amount of rubber and grip on the track. It was black and it was already very fast. I think Saturday morning will be astonishing how quick we will go.
“I’m happy to be back post-pandemic and we’ll see what Saturday holds. Saturday morning will be astonishing how quickly we will go.”
Pagenaud and Rossi each spoke of the value of experience on this race course.
“The IndyCar Series in general rewards experience to a certain degree,” Rossi said. “There is a lot that goes into a race weekend. This is a simpler track than St. Pete, so if you are coming here for the first time, maybe the learning curve isn’t as much.
“There are a few tricks around here that you need to know to go quick.”
Pagenaud believes Long Beach is harder than St. Petersburg, but experience comes into play on the first run because they already know where the bumps are and know where to brake.
“By practice two, the rookies are already up to pace,” Pagenaud said. “It’s always so tight here.”
McLaughlin’s No. 3 Chevrolet had a best lap at 1:07.6720 followed by Team Penske teammate Josef Newgarden’s 1:07.7282 in the No. 2 Chevrolet.
Marcus Ericsson rounded out the top five at 1:07.8425 in the No. 8 Huski Chocolate Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing at 1:07.8425.
Defending Long Beach race winner Colton Herta’s No. 26 Honda at 1:07.8783 with defending NTT IndyCar champion Alex Palou seventh at 1:07.9113 in the No. 10 NTT DATA Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing.
After a 14-minute delay to clean off the track from the IMSA practice, the cars finally were fired and left pit road.
The hot conditions created a very slippery track. Many of the big-name drivers experienced issues keeping the car off course. Two of those were at Chip Ganassi Racing as six-time champion and former Long Beach winner Scott Dixon ran off course with a brake fire. On the same lap, teammate Jimmie Johnson lost control of his No. 48 Carvana/American Legion Honda and drove straight into a tire barrier.
In-car footage showed that Johnson barely got his hands off the wheel before the sudden impact with the barrier.
“That was me just being greedy with the curbs there,” Johnson said. “I could see a lot of black on those curbs. Guys were taking it. It just got a touch too much. The bottom of the car, the tub hit.
“Once that happened, I was four wheels in the air and wide into the tire barriers. I had been on them; I just got a little too much on them.
“I think my hand will be OK. We just have a little damage on the car and not many sets of tires. We’ll work through this and get through the session tomorrow. The track has a ton of grip. I can’t believe how much rubber is on the track and a lot of grip.
“I’ll learn from my teammates when we get here tomorrow and go fast. I feel like by the completion of the first lap, I was faster than I was the best lap last Fall. The progression is there. Now, it’s those fine little details that I need to find.”
Update from Long Beach pic.twitter.com/pRGO2jPLmm
— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) April 9, 2022
Shortly after returning to green, Dalton Kellett backed into the tire barrier for another red flag with 12:29 left in the session.
After a two-minute break, it was back on track with less than 10 minutes remaining in the session
Rinus VeeKay also hit the wall coming out of a turn but continued without a flag.
Of the 26 cars entered in Sunday’s race, rookie Tatiana Calderon was the slowest in Friday’s very hot session at 1:08.9823.
Rookie Callum Ilott was ninth for Juncos/Hollinger Racing, which was a surprise for the young driver from Britain.
“A great start to the weekend,” Ilott said. “This is one of the tracks I was at last year and have a complete understanding of the track. I got through it with a good result. Team is happy, engineers are happy and I’m pretty happy. We’ll adapt a little bit for tomorrow because the conditions will be cooler, but I’m excited.
“The track is insanely grippy but on a knife’s edge as well. It’s a bit bumpier with a lot of change from tarmac to concrete. Here, you have to drive around the bumps more than drive around the corner. In IndyCar, you have to find a car that drives over those bumps quickly.”