Inevitably the rookies hit the track first, using their extra set of Firestone primaries, but then it was the Rahal Letterman Lanigan team who sprung to the fore, with first Christian Lundgaard and then Jack Harvey hitting the top of the times.
Harvey, who scored his only IndyCar podium on the 2.439-mile road course in 2019, lapped the course in 1m10.4121s, an average speed of 124.700mph.
Harvey’s time was shaded by 2021 champion Alex Palou in Chip Ganassi Racing’s #10 and then CGR’s six-time champ Scott Dixon, but he remained third.
Palou lowered his time on primaries to 1m10.2689. Behind Harvey was 2021 IMS roadcourse winner Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing, chased by Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden and Will Power.
With 12 minutes to go, the times started to tumble as drivers tried out their sets of Firestone alternates, with Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist of Arrow McLaren sandwiching the RLL cars of Lundgaard and Harvey, chased by Power and VeeKay. O’Ward’s benchmark was 1m09.4981s, an average of 126.340mph.
Scott McLaughlin and Marcus Ericsson bounced into the top six with five minutes remaining, while Alex Palou went third fastest.
McLaughlin improved to fourth, as team-mate Newgarden was late leaving on reds due to an apparent clutch problem.
Colton Herta was unable to set a representative time, as his new Honda unit started smoking on his first installation lap at the start of the session and he returned to the garage. The team just got him out for another installation lap in the final two minutes.
Second practice begins at 6pm BST.
IndyCar Indy GP FP1 results
| Cla | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Interval | Mph |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Patricio O'Ward |
Arrow McLaren | 1'09.4981 | 126.340 | ||
| 2 |  Christian Lundgaard |
 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
1'09.4988 | 0.0007 | 0.0007 | 126.339 |
| 3 |  Alex Palou |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
1'09.5213 | 0.0232 | 0.0225 | 126.298 |
| 4 |  Scott McLaughlin |
Team Penske |
1'09.5465 | 0.0484 | 0.0252 | 126.252 |
| 5 |  Jack Harvey |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
1'09.5976 | 0.0995 | 0.0511 | 126.160 |
| 6 |  Felix Rosenqvist |
Arrow McLaren | 1'09.7152 | 0.2171 | 0.1176 | 125.947 |
| 7 | Marcus Ericsson |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
1'09.7706 | 0.2725 | 0.0554 | 125.847 |
| 8 | Scott Dixon |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
1'09.7811 | 0.2830 | 0.0105 | 125.828 |
| 9 |  Will Power |
Team Penske |
1'09.9494 | 0.4513 | 0.1683 | 125.525 |
| 10 |  Rinus van Kalmthout |
Ed Carpenter Racing |
1'09.9595 | 0.4614 | 0.0101 | 125.507 |
| 11 | Marcus Armstrong |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
1'09.9771 | 0.4790 | 0.0176 | 125.475 |
| 12 | Kyle Kirkwood |
Andretti Autosport |
1'09.9802 | 0.4821 | 0.0031 | 125.470 |
| 13 | Graham Rahal |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
1'10.0010 | 0.5029 | 0.0208 | 125.432 |
| 14 | Conor Daly |
Ed Carpenter Racing |
1'10.0138 | 0.5157 | 0.0128 | 125.410 |
| 15 | Josef Newgarden |
Team Penske |
1'10.0681 | 0.5700 | 0.0543 | 125.312 |
| 16 |  Romain Grosjean |
Andretti Autosport |
1'10.0800 | 0.5819 | 0.0119 | 125.291 |
| 17 | Alexander Rossi |
Arrow McLaren | 1'10.1417 | 0.6436 | 0.0617 | 125.181 |
| 18 | Simon Pagenaud |
Meyer Shank Racing |
1'10.1975 | 0.6994 | 0.0558 | 125.081 |
| 19 | David Malukas |
Dale Coyne Racing |
1'10.2324 | 0.7343 | 0.0349 | 125.019 |
| 20 | Ray Robb | Dale Coyne Racing |
1'10.3928 | 0.8947 | 0.1604 | 124.734 |
| 21 | Callum Ilott |
Juncos Hollinger Racing |
1'10.4085 | 0.9104 | 0.0157 | 124.707 |
| 22 |  Devlin DeFrancesco |
Andretti Autosport |
1'10.4150 | 0.9169 | 0.0065 | 124.695 |
| 23 |  Helio Castroneves |
Meyer Shank Racing |
1'10.5015 | 1.0034 | 0.0865 | 124.542 |
| 24 | Santino Ferrucci |
A.J. Foyt Enterprises |
1'10.6467 | 1.1486 | 0.1452 | 124.286 |
| 25 | Benjamin Pedersen |
A.J. Foyt Enterprises |
1'10.7691 | 1.2710 | 0.1224 | 124.071 |
| 26 |  Agustin Canapino |
Juncos Hollinger Racing |
1'10.9736 | 1.4755 | 0.2045 | 123.714 |
| 27 | Colton Herta |
Andretti Autosport |
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