Florida native and resident Kyle Kirkwood led the opening practice for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding.
Kirkwood, from Jupiter, Florida, paced the 80-minute session split into three groups with a best lap of 1 minute, .4409 of a second in the No. 27 Andretti INDYCAR Honda, the leader of two Andretti Global drivers in the top five.
Three-time series champion Alex Palou started the defense of his two consecutive titles by ending up second at 1:00.6004 in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, .1595 of a second behind leader Kirkwood.
2022 St. Petersburg winner Scott McLaughlin was the quickest Chevrolet-powered driver, third overall at 1:01.0002 in the No. 3 DEX Imaging Team Penske Chevrolet. But that was part of a good news-bad news session for McLaughlin, who crashed after he turned his quickest lap.
Colton Herta, who won this race in 2021, was fourth at 1:01.0603 in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda of Andretti Global. Defending race winner Pato O’Ward rounded out the top five at 1:01.1161 in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
The top 10 in the opening practice session was stacked and tight. Nine of the top 10 are NTT INDYCAR SERIES race winners, and four are series champions. Just .8516 of a second separated that elite top 10, too.
There were two red flags during practice. Marcus Armstrong triggered the first when his No. 66 SiriusXM/Root Insurance Honda fielded by Meyer Shank Racing spun in Turn 3 and didn’t make contact.
McLaughlin wasn’t as fortunate as fellow New Zealand native Armstrong six minutes later. McLaughlin, who announced earlier today a contract extension with Team Penske, clipped the outside wall in Turn 3, spinning and stopping on course with moderate damage to the front of his car. McLaughlin was unhurt.
“It was a little bit of a mistake on my part, unfortunately,” McLaughlin said. “I was a little wide through (Turn) 3, and there’s a little bit of a bump there. The bump just sort of put me a little bit wider than I wanted, and there’s no grip out there.
“It’s a bit of a bummer, the mistake, but you’d rather have it happen now and just get on with the weekend.”
Up next is another practice at 10 a.m. Saturday (FS2, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network), followed by NTT P1 Award qualifying at 2:30 p.m. (FS1, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network).
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