Each driver was given three sets of tires and were required to complete three phases of controlled speed in order to be cleared to participate in next year’s Indianapolis 500.
Lundqvist, making his first-ever appearance behind the wheel of the Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, delivered a lap of 219.504 mph and set the fastest ROP pace among the group of drivers making their respective superspeedway running in the IndyCar Series.
It took the Swede 54 laps to complete the program.
“This team, they make it easy for the driver,” said Lundqvist, the 2022 Indy NXT champion. “The car was good in all speeds, to be honest. Even Phase 1, sure it's slower than what you're supposed to run, but it still felt pretty fast, I'm not going to lie.
“It's almost good that they have those phases that slowly you build up to the 220 or whatever lap we got there at the end. But it was good; very happy. I was able to get comfortable fairly quickly and then got the program out of the way and then had a couple of laps here at the end of just fun running.”
Blomqvist managed to complete the phases in 52 laps, quicker than either of his fellow IMS debutants. By the end of the morning running, his Meyer Shank Racing Honda was 0.0085s behind Lundqvist.
“It's such a special day for me,” Blomqvist said. “Yeah, that was a pretty cool experience, I must admit. Getting those first laps on a few hours ago, damn it's such a eye-opener.
“That first lap, you're just soaking it all in and then you got to get down to business and make sure you can get through this rookie orientation test. I mean, as the runs went on, it was so much fun. That last run there just flat out there all the way around for like 15 laps was really, really cool.
“I'm really excited to come back here in May to kick the big thing off. It's going to be my first 500 and my first one I'm coming to is one I'm competing in, so that's going to be pretty wild. But, all baby steps. It's a long road ahead of us. I got my first ever oval experience a few weeks ago at Texas, which definitely helps the process coming here because in all honesty, this track's a little bit more straightforward, more natural. Such an exciting and fun morning. I'm really grateful.”
It took Armstrong 57 laps to complete the program, ending up third on the time charts at 0.3044 behind team-mate his incoming rookie team-mate Lundqvist.
“I thought it was actually quite difficult to do Phase 1, if anything, because having to predict the lap speed is not easy, especially when I don't really have a reference of what's fast or slow,” Armstrong said. “So, I thought it was actually difficult to stay at that pace initially and then as we progressively got faster.
“I had good confidence right from the beginning. It's obviously a very good car and we had tons of stability in the car and it gave me a lot of confidence and I couldn't have asked for a better introduction to this place.”
Upon completing ROP, the three drivers were equipped with one remaining fresh set of tires for afternoon running.
At the conclusion, Blomqvist was fastest overall at 220.176 mph and logged an additional 38 laps. Lundqvist, who ended up 0.1432s behind, bolstered his lap total by 48 to become the only driver to go over the century mark on the day, hitting 102 laps.
Armstrong was 0.1723s off the mark after putting down another 36 laps at the iconic 2.5-mile superspeedway.
Four-time Indy 500 champion Helio Castroneves stood on the MSR timing stand and provided coaching and feedback to Blomqvist. Additionally, though, it brought flashbacks of his own rookie program introduction to IMS.
“It brings me memories from my rookie orientation,” Castroneves said. “I had incredible guys, talking about Al [Unser] Sr. and John Rutherford back then, even Eddie Cheever was around. The phases you got to be patient. He [Blomqvist] was actually plenty patient at the moment, and he did what he needed to do until when he got to flat out and he felt at home. So, that's good.”
