By Austin Lawton, Staff Writer
The NTT IndyCar Series celebrated July 4 with the first of two practice sessions for the upcoming Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio on Sunday.
Kyle Kirkwood (01:05.8272) was the fastest driver of the day, sporting a brand new Honda livery on the No. 27 Andretti Global car. Kirkwood bolstered a strong Andretti Global effort on Friday as teammates Marcus Ericsson (01:06.2324) was fifth fastest and Colton Herta (01:06.2324) in seventh.
I think it was productive,” Herta said about his day. “Pretty messy from me with an off, and then I backed into the wall at turn 6, 7 — 6. So could have been a little bit better from my side of things, but it was still productive.”
The Andretti team heads into Mid-Ohio with plenty of momentum as the series will have five races in the next four weeks. The surge in momentum is in large part to Kirkwood’s three wins on the season and a podium at Road America on June 22.
“I love driving the car, so any time we get more of a chance to do that is better in my book,” Herta said. “So I’m excited for this upcoming stretch. Obviously, like you said, it’s going to be hard on a lot of people. For me, I love every time we get into the car. So I’m excited for it and excited for this weekend.”
Following Kirkwood in practice was Pato O’Ward (01:06.0160) in second and Alex Palou (01:06.0409) in third. Josef Newgarden ( 01:06.1791) ended the day in fourth, leading the charge for Team Penske.
SEE: Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Friday Practice Results
Will Power was down the order at 21st fastest (01:06.8215), the lowest of the Penske cars. Power explained that he just could not get a good run on the red, alternate tires and not finding a big enough gap between cars to set a representative lap time, due to drivers backing off and abandoning their runs.
“Actually, the car was pretty good. Didn’t get a good run on reds, but hopefully in a good window.” Power said about his day.
On-track action resumes tomorrow with a second practice session at 10:30 a.m. and qualifying at 2:30 p.m.