
Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda’s Alex Palou, around whom so much controversy is swirling at the moment, put his 2023 considerations aside to go quickest on the hard compound Firestones, his 19th lap producing a 70.9799sec 123.703mph of the 2.439-mile road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with around half an hour of the 90min session left to run.
Then Rinus VeeKay, who won on this course in May 2021, overhauled him on the alternate compound to slot his Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevy into top spot.