Road America IndyCar: Palou tops Newgarden in final practice
Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda’s reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou set fastest time in the third and final practice session for tomorrow’s Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America.
As in FP2 and Qualifying, rain threatened to interrupt IndyCar’s final session before tomorrow’s race, but in fact it largely held off until the final five minutes, and the teams and drivers were able to set 1min46sec laps on their primaries.
Third-fastest qualifier Alex Palou turned the top time in this ‘race warm-up’ session with a 1min46.2291sec lap, his Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda three tenths faster than Josef Newgarden in the #2 Team Penske-Chevrolet which is due to start on the outside of the front row.
Simon Pagenaud was third for Meyer Shank Racing-Honda ahead of Dale Coyne Racing with RWR-Honda’s regularly impressive rookie David Malukas. Felix Rosenqvist and Pato O’Ward were fifth and eighth for Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet, split by Andretti Autosport teammates Romain Grosjean and pole-winner Alexander Rossi.
Tatiana Calderon’s AJ Foyt Racing-Chevrolet came to a halt at Turn 5, bringing out a red flag, and then in the final five minutes the rain started to get heavier and the cars pitted.
| Cla | Driver | Team | Laps | Time | Gap | Mph |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Alex Palou |  Chip Ganassi Racing | 11 | 1'46.2291 | 136.031 | |
| 2 | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | 9 | 1'46.5337 | 0.3046 | 135.642 |
| 3 |  Simon Pagenaud | Meyer Shank Racing | 12 | 1'46.5752 | 0.3461 | 135.589 |
| 4 | David Malukas | Dale Coyne Racing with HMD | 10 | 1'46.7581 | 0.5290 | 135.356 |
| 5 |  Felix Rosenqvist | Arrow McLaren SP | 10 | 1'47.0441 | 0.8150 | 134.995 |
| 6 | Romain Grosjean | Andretti Autosport | 9 | 1'47.0650 | 0.8359 | 134.968 |
| 7 | Alexander Rossi | Andretti Autosport | 10 | 1'47.2270 | 0.9979 | 134.765 |
| 8 |  Patricio O'Ward | Arrow McLaren SP | 13 | 1'47.3212 | 1.0921 | 134.646 |
| 9 |  Will Power | Team Penske | 12 | 1'47.4346 | 1.2055 | 134.504 |
| 10 |  Christian Lundgaard | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 9 | 1'47.4798 | 1.2507 | 134.448 |
| 11 | Kyle Kirkwood | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 10 | 1'47.5866 | 1.3575 | 134.314 |
| 12 |  Rinus van Kalmthout | Ed Carpenter Racing | 10 | 1'47.5907 | 1.3616 | 134.309 |
| 13 |  Scott McLaughlin | Team Penske | 11 | 1'47.5956 | 1.3665 | 134.303 |
| 14 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | 9 | 1'47.6045 | 1.3754 | 134.292 |
| 15 | Conor Daly | Ed Carpenter Racing | 9 | 1'47.6285 | 1.3994 | 134.262 |
| 16 | Colton Herta | Andretti Autosport | 9 | 1'47.6584 | 1.4293 | 134.225 |
| 17 |  Devlin DeFrancesco | Andretti Autosport | 13 | 1'47.7094 | 1.4803 | 134.161 |
| 18 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 10 | 1'48.0060 | 1.7769 | 133.793 |
| 19 |  Takuma Sato | Dale Coyne Racing | 11 | 1'48.0915 | 1.8624 | 133.687 |
| 20 | Marcus Ericsson | Chip Ganassi Racing | 9 | 1'48.2432 | 2.0141 | 133.499 |
| 21 |  Helio Castroneves | Meyer Shank Racing | 12 | 1'48.2747 | 2.0456 | 133.461 |
| 22 |  Jack Harvey | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 11 | 1'48.4751 | 2.2460 | 133.214 |
| 23 | Jimmie Johnson | Chip Ganassi Racing | 12 | 1'48.8560 | 2.6269 | 132.748 |
| 24 | Dalton Kellett | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 11 | 1'49.3557 | 3.1266 | 132.141 |
| 25 |  Tatiana Calderon | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 9 | 1'49.4302 | 3.2011 | 132.051 |
| 26 |  Simona de Silvestro | Paretta Autosport | 13 | 1'50.3133 | 4.0842 | 130.994 |
| 27 | Callum Ilott | Juncos Hollinger Racing | 9 | 1'51.1885 | 4.9594 | 129.963 |
| View full results | ||||||
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