By David Morgan, Associate Editor
ARLINGTON, Texas – Scott McLaughlin could not wipe the smile off his face after climbing from his No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet at the conclusion of Friday’s first practice session for the inaugural Java House Grand Prix of Arlington.
And rightfully so.
With a fast lap of one minute, 34.892 seconds, Mclaughlin posted the fast time of the day in the first on track activity for the NTT IndyCar Series around the 2.73-mile, 14-turn street course winding around the footprint between the Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers stadiums.
“I’m not just saying this because you probably think I’m getting paid to say it, but it’s hands down the best street circuit personally that I’ve driven on,” said McLaughlin. “So far it’s got a huge straight, bumpy straight, very hard to test your brake point into turn 10 there. Then there are so many corners that are technical, but then also daring.
“It’s an absolute blast, and it was honestly a pleasure to learn it and get better and better. Obviously, I’m a bit happier because my car is handling really good right now, but a really good start to our weekend. Just wanted a solid session and build on it from here and have a lot of confidence to the point I feel like just polishing the car and just put it in the truck. It feels really good.”
Even with the fast time of the weekend thus far, McLaughlin is not ready to just rest on his laurels, noting there is still more speed to find as the weekend progresses towards race day.
“There are a couple of things I need to look at, and you’ll look at data tonight. There will be guys doing a corner a little bit different to you, and is it good or bad, and just trying to dissect that a little bit,” McLaughlin added.
“I felt like a strength of mine has been learning new tracks, even since I was a kid. I really enjoy this side of it. I’ll do a deep dive into the data tonight and be ready for tomorrow.”
He would be followed on the time sheet by Alex Palou in his No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, timing in 0.0587 seconds in arears of McLaughlin quick time.
Much like McLaughlin, Palou lauded the new Arlington layout after making his first laps in anger around the unforgiving circuit.
“Love it. Yeah, it’s insane. It’s super fun to drive,” said Palou. “It’s just a lot more fun than I thought just how the car feels. There’s so many different corners. Like, there’s corners that you can attack so much, and you feel like a superhero. There’s other corners where you need to back off because the grip is very different.
“Very bumpy. A lot more bumpy than I thought, which makes it super challenging, but super fun. Super fun.”
Will Power finished practice in third-place, with the remainder of the top-10 going to Pato O’Ward, Felix Rosenqvist, Marcus Ericsson, Alexander Rossi, Christian Lundgaard, Scott Dixon, and Dennis Hauger.
As expected on a new circuit, there were some growing pains for the field as they figured out the fast way around the track.
Among those running into issues included the Juncos Hollinger Racing duo of Sting Ray Robb and Rinus Veekay, with Robb bringing out the first red flag of practice when he got into the wall, while VeeKay suffered issues with his brakes overheating and catching fire momentarily.
Felix Rosenqvist also teetered over the edge in practice when the rear end of his No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda kicked sideways off the corner and kissed the outside wall. Rosenqvist would limp his car back to pit road and called it a day.
A number of others also pushed a bit too far and wound up in the various runoffs around the track, but it was no harm, no foul as nearly all of them were able to return to the track and get back up to speed.
Saturday will bring an early morning practice session at 9:30 am ET before it’s time to set the field for the main event at 2:30 pm ET. Practice and qualifying will be televised on FOX Sports 1.
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