By INDYCAR
In an interesting twist to the racing euphemism “bump and run,” Kyle Kirkwood got the bump and then made a superb run to lead practice Friday for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear.
Kirkwood topped the 80-minute session, separated into groups, with a lap of 1 minute, 1.7509 seconds in the No. 27 Siemens AWS Honda of Andretti Global. That quick trip around the nine-turn, 1.645-mile street circuit in downtown Detroit came after Kirkwood spent considerable time in the pits for repairs to the rear of his car after being nudged from behind through a short section of the circuit amid slower traffic by the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet of two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Will Power.
SEE: Practice Results
“I don’t know,” Kirkwood said. “Everyone goes slow around here. The track’s not big enough to fit all the cars, and he got frustrated. Whatever, I guess. I’m not upset. I don’t care. We’re P1.”
Said Power: “I came around, and he slowed up in the middle and made contact. So, I thought, ‘Well, I may as well get a gap now,’ so I just pushed him past the car in front, just moved him out of the way and got a really nice gap.”
Scott McLaughlin began his recovery from crashing out of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on the pace lap last Sunday by ending up second today at 1:02.0301 in the No. 3 TireRack.com Team Penske Chevrolet. Power was third at 1:02.3862.
Two-time series champion Josef Newgarden was the third Team Penske driver in the top four with his best lap of 1:02.4819 in the No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet. Christian Lundgaard rounded out the top five at 1:02.6047 in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge winner Alex Palou, the runaway series points leader with five wins in the first six races this season, looked mortal in this session. Three-time series champion Palou ended up 15th out of 27 cars at 1:03.0381 in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Palou locked up his front Firestone Firehawk tires entering a braking zone during the session and rolled past the corner but made no contact in the run-off area.
Defending Detroit winner and six-time series champion Scott Dixon was 18th at 1:03.0985 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
Up next is practice at 9 a.m. ET Saturday, followed by NTT P1 Award qualifying at noon (both sessions FS1, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network). The 100-lap race starts at 12:30 p.m. ET Sunday (FOX, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network).
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