Grosjean top in Road America practice, McLaughlin eighth

Romain Grosjean has continued his impressive start to his maiden IndyCar Series campaign, going fastest on Friday in Practice 1 at Road America.

The Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing driver clocked a 1:47.678s on the 6.5km circuit with just 30 seconds remaining in the 45-minute session, edging out Andretti Autosport driver Ryan Hunter-Reay by a little over one tenth of a second.

“It’s a good start to a track that is very different from when we came testing,” said Grosjean.

“So I think we’ve got some work to do on a set-up.

“But yeah, we’ve managed to get a good lap at the end. So that’s good for the race weekend.”

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Josef Newgarden was the first of the Team Penske entries in third while former series leader Alex Palou, who claimed his first series podium at Road America last year, was fourth fastest for Chip Ganassi Racing.

Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing), Colton Herta (Andretti Autosport), and Sebastien Bourdais (AJ Foyt Racing) were fifth, sixth, and seventh respectively.

Scott McLaughlin was the second best Team Penske pilot in eighth, setting a 1:48.284s to put him 0.606s adrift of Grosjean’s chart-topper.

His quickest effort came on his 13th and final lap of the 14-turn circuit.

Rinus VeeKay’s temporary replacement Oliver Askew (Ed Carpenter Racing) was ninth while Will Power (Team Penske) rounded out the top 10.

Askew’s impressive performance comes just a week after he subbed in for Felix Rosenqvist at McLaren SP when the Swede was hospitalised for a high-speed crash at the Detroit Grand Prix.

Series leader Pato O’Ward was on the fringe of the top 10 in 11th for McLaren SP while Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon was 12th.

Series debutants Cody Ware of Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing and Kevin Magnussen, who is standing in for Rosenqvist at McLaren SP, were 22nd and 23rd respectively.

Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan driver Ed Jones was unable to take part in practice after a small fire put the brakes on his session before it got underway.

Practice 2 will get underway at 01:10 AEST tomorrow followed by Qualifying at 04:30 AEST before Practice 3 at 07:30 AEST.

The Grand Prix at Road America gets underway on Monday at 02:00 AEST.

Results: Road America, Practice 1

Pos	Num	Name	Time	Diff	Gap	Laps	Engine	Team
1	51	Romain Grosjean	1:47.6781			10	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing
2	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	1:47.8024	0.1243	0.1243	10	Honda	Andretti Autosport
3	2	Josef Newgarden	1:47.8417	0.1636	0.0393	8	Chevy	Team Penske
4	10	Alex Palou	1:47.8515	0.1734	0.0098	11	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
5	15	Graham Rahal	1:48.0938	0.4157	0.2423	10	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
6	26	Colton Herta	1:48.1407	0.4626	0.0469	12	Honda	Andretti Autosport
7	14	Sebastien Bourdais	1:48.2481	0.5700	0.1074	11	Chevy	AJ Foyt Enterprises
8	3	Scott McLaughlin	1:48.2844	0.6063	0.0363	13	Chevy	Team Penske
9	21	Oliver Askew	1:48.3000	0.6219	0.0156	12	Chevy	Ed Carpenter Racing
10	12	Will Power	1:48.3432	0.6651	0.0432	12	Chevy	Team Penske
11	5	Pato O’Ward	1:48.4251	0.7470	0.0819	9	Chevy	Arrow McLaren SP
12	9	Scott Dixon	1:48.4412	0.7631	0.0161	8	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
13	30	Takuma Sato	1:48.4566	0.7785	0.0154	11	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
14	20	Conor Daly	1:48.6623	0.9842	0.2057	11	Chevy	Ed Carpenter Racing
15	60	Jack Harvey	1:48.6690	0.9909	0.0067	8	Honda	Meyer Shank Racing
16	27	Alexander Rossi	1:48.7379	1.0598	0.0689	10	Honda	Andretti Autosport
17	22	Simon Pagenaud	1:48.9839	1.3058	0.2460	9	Chevy	Team Penske
18	8	Marcus Ericsson	1:49.0249	1.3468	0.0410	10	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
19	59	Max Chilton	1:49.3676	1.6895	0.3427	13	Chevy	Carlin
20	29	James Hinchcliffe	1:49.5357	1.8576	0.1681	10	Honda	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport
21	48	Jimmie Johnson	1:50.0764	2.3983	0.5407	14	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
22	52	Cody Ware	1:50.2981	2.6200	0.2217	12	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing
23	7	Kevin Magnussen	1:50.4921	2.8140	0.1940	14	Chevy	Arrow McLaren SP
24	4	Dalton Kellett	1:50.4941	2.8160	0.0020	13	Chevy	AJ Foyt Enterprises
25	18	Ed Jones	No Time				Honda	Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan