By David Morgan, Associate Editor
MADISON, Ill. – The NTT IndyCar Series weekend at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway is underway with Pato O’Ward and Arrow McLaren striking the first blow of the weekend.
With only a handful of seconds remaining in the opening practice session for Sunday’s Bommarito 500, O’Ward jumped to the top of the board in his No. 5 Chevrolet with a lap of 172.696 mph just ahead of current IndyCar Series points leader and defending champion Alex Palou.
O’Ward will look to replicate his past success on the 1.25-mile oval, where he has finished on the podium in five of his seven starts, and has only finished outside the top four once, when he had a mechanical failure two years ago.
He will also be looking to score his first podium finish of 2026 in a season where his best finish has been fourth on three different occasions.
Palou meanwhile is seeking a reversal of fortunes at the track on the banks of the Mississippi, one he has called “probably [his] worst place.”
In seven starts at the track, Palou has never scored a podium finish, but is currently on a streak of top-10 finishes at Gateway, where his team is hoping to reap the rewards of testing earlier in the year.
“Very good so far,” said Palou. “Very tough to know what everyone is doing. I had an amazing, super clean run, so I know that our speed, it’s all there. Very happy with the car so far, but I think it’s going to be very tough and very tight in qualifying.
“So far a lot happier than I’ve ever been at this track.”
Behind O’Ward and Palou, the remainder of the top-10 finishers in practice would be 2026 Indy 500 champion Felix Rosenqvist, his Meyer Shank Racing teammate Marcus Armstrong, Marcus Ericsson, David Malukas, Alexander Rossi, Scott McLaughlin, defending race winner Kyle Kirkwood, and Scott Dixon.
The session was halted just once for caution when Rinus VeeKay spun his No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet with approximately 20 minutes remaining in practice.
Rinus VeeKay backs his No. 76 in the wall in Practice 1 🫢 pic.twitter.com/ysot5yEnRx
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) June 6, 2026
VeeKay wiggled up the track in the middle of Turn 3 and 4, backing his car it into the outside wall. He climbed out OK, but team has work to do to get his battered machine repaired before qualifying, which is scheduled for 4:35 pm ET.
Prior to the crash, VeeKay was fourth on the timing sheet.
“We were finding some speed,” said VeeKay. “I just got loose around the apex of Turn 3, 4, and tried to save it, but the car came around. At least it looked like a straight hit on the rear, so it should not be a lot of work to get that fixed.
“JHR have given me a really good car this weekend. So far on the ovals it’s been a blessing to drive that car. Not too worried about it. We were trying to find the balance and I think the wind picked up and we were a bit too much on the nose.
“It happens, unfortunately, but it doesn’t mean day over. I’ll head back to the engineers and we’ll tweak the balance. We’ve got pace, we’ve got raw pace, which is all you need to be successful during a weekend like this.”
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