David Malukas Tops Opening Practice at Gateway

By David Morgan, Associate Editor

MADISON, Ill. – David Malukas has got Gateway figured out.

With a pair of podium finishes over the past two years on his resume at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, the driver of the No. 66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda picked up right where he left off, powering his machine to the top of the board with a lap of 25.1635 seconds, 178.830 mph.

Since returning from a wrist injury that saw him booted from his ride at Arrow McLaren and picked up by Meyer Shank, Malukas has been a man on a mission, looking to prove he belongs and Saturday’s practice run gives him a leg up on the competition at statistically his best track on the circuit.

“The car is definitely on the edge,” Malukas said. “We’re trying to find the limit. It’s 60 minutes, right before qualifying, so we’re trying to do it and we definitely found the limit. [Turn] 3 and 4 was definitely exciting. We were definitely loose, but we managed to get that lap in.

“I think a few steps back and we’ll be where we want to be. That’s kind of what we wanted to do. We wanted to make sure we could find the limit before qualifying comes up.”

Colton Herta brough his Andretti Global Honda in second-fastest, followed by Scott McLaughlin, Will Power, and Alex Palou rounding out the top-five fastest.

The remainder of the top-10 went to Romain Grosjean, Felix Rosenqvist, Marcus Ericsson, Nolan Siegel, and Kyle Kirkwood.

Conor Daly, taking over the No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet for the remainder of the year, finished the session a respectable 12^th, while Alexander Rossi was 13^th in practice in his first race back since a thumb injury sidelined him for the race at Toronto.

“Very thankful we had that gap and thankful for the doctors and the therapists. Good to go,” Rossi said of his thumb before looking ahead to the remainder of the weekend.

“It’s hard to tell with 60 minutes and all of the cars trying to get runs and different trim levels and stuff. I think we’re close, but it’s going to be about really nailing it, but it’s going to be about matching the downforce to the conditions. It’s going to be the hottest track temp we see all weekend in qualifying, so it’ll be important to understand how that’s going to affect the car we have and just ran.

“Same for everyone. I think we’ve got a decent shot at kind of a top-five, six car. We’ll have to execute pretty well.”

The session was slowed once for caution, with Linus Lundqvist suffering an issue with the hybrid system on his No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

Next up for the IndyCar Series at Gateway will be qualifying at 4:20 pm ET, followed by a high-line practice at 7:45 pm ET and final practice at 8:30 pm ET. All of which will be broadcast on Peacock.

Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at Gateway Practice 1 Results