Ericsson sets fastest lap of IndyCar pre-season test

Last year’s Indianapolis 500 winner, Marcus Ericsson, has driven his Chip Ganassi Racing entry to the fastest lap of IndyCar’s pre-season Open Test at The Thermal Club.

The Swede achieved his time early on the second and final day of running at the Californian venue, punching out a 1:38.4223s just four laps into proceedings.

That lap time was almost a second faster than Colton Herta’s benchmark from the day prior and no one would beat it, although Christian Lundgaard got somewhat close when he set a 1:38.5682s in his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing entry.

Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti Autosport) was third-fastest in the day’s earlier session on a 1:38.7885s and then topped the latter session with a 1:38.8279s.

Callum Ilott was second-quickest in that hit-out and fourth on combined times on a 1:38.8404s in his Juncos Hollinger Racing car, the quickest of the Chevrolets for the test.

Marcus Armstrong (Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) rounded out the combined top five while Herta (Andretti Autosport Honda) was only 15th on the day, despite setting a 1:39.1047s.

The first event of the season is the Grand Prix of St Petersburg on March 3-5 (local time).

Results: Day 2

Pos	Num	Driver	C/E/T	Session	Fastest lap
1	8	Marcus Ericsson	D/H/F	Practice 3	1:38.4223
2	45	Christian Lundgaard	D/H/F	Practice 3	1:38.5682
3	27	Kyle Kirkwood	D/H/F	Practice 3	1:38.7885
4	77	Callum Ilott	D/C/F	Practice 4	1:38.8404
5	11	Marcus Armstrong	D/H/F	Practice 4	1:38.8409
6	12	Will Power	D/C/F	Practice 3	1:38.8702
7	10	Alex Palou	D/H/F	Practice 4	1:38.8718
8	3	Scott McLaughlin	D/C/F	Practice 3	1:38.9052
9	6	Felix Rosenqvist	D/C/F	Practice 3	1:38.9410
10	9	Scott Dixon	D/H/F	Practice 3	1:38.9762
11	60	Simon Pagenaud	D/H/F	Practice 4	1:38.9769
12	2	Josef Newgarden	D/C/F	Practice 3	1:39.0301
13	7	Alexander Rossi	D/C/F	Practice 3	1:39.0913
14	28	Romain Grosjean	D/H/F	Practice 3	1:39.0944
15	26	Colton Herta	D/H/F	Practice 4	1:39.1047
16	5	Pato O’Ward	D/C/F	Practice 3	1:39.1486
17	18	David Malukas	D/H/F	Practice 4	1:39.3668
18	06	Helio Castroneves	D/H/F	Practice 3	1:39.3803
19	29	Devlin DeFrancesco	D/H/F	Practice 3	1:39.5308
20	30	Jack Harvey	D/H/F	Practice 3	1:39.6960
21	78	Agustin Canapino	D/C/F	Practice 4	1:39.7039
22	15	Graham Rahal	D/H/F	Practice 4	1:39.7432
23	21	Rinus VeeKay	D/C/F	Practice 3	1:39.8912
24	51	Sting Ray Robb	D/H/F	Practice 4	1:39.8983
25	14	Santino Ferrucci	D/C/F	Practice 3	1:39.9366
26	20	Conor Daly	D/C/F	Practice 3	1:40.1192
27	55	Benjamin Pedersen	D/C/F	Practice 4	1:40.1297