The New Zealander turned a flying lap of 58.1516s around the 1.964-mile, 12-turn natural terrain road course to take the top spot with 18 minutes remaining in the 45-minute session. He led a Team Penske 1-2, besting teammate Josef Newgarden by 0.1179s.
The outing was a night-and-day difference for Penske as a whole compared to Friday’s opening practice when McLaughlin, the defending race winner and pole-sitter, was 16th and Newgarden was 10th.
Despite spinning 10 minutes into the session, six-time series champion Scott Dixon ended up third overall, with Chip Ganassi Racing entry trailing 0.1269s behind. Graham Rahal quietly asserted his No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing car in fourth, 0.1538s off McLaughlin’s pace-setter.
Championship leader Alex Palou (Ganassi) came across in the final spot of the top five, 0.2114s behind.
Rinus VeeKay (Ed Carpenter Racing), rookie Marcus Armstrong (Chip Ganassi Racing), Christian Lundgaard (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) finished up sixth through eighth, respectively. The Arrow McLaren duo of Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist rounded out the rest of the top 10.
Colton Herta’s near-misses with the Turn 1 Armco eventually resulted in clipping the barrier with the right front during the session, which was followed by his Andretti Autosport crew looking over any potential issues in the aftermath. Herta ended up 14th overall.
The only red flag of the session was brought out with 14 minutes remaining by Sting Ray Robb, with the Dale Coyne Racing with RWR rookie stalling on-track in Turn 7 after a miscue on the exit of Turn 6.
The only significant drama came as the seconds ticked down. A brief moment in Turn 6 by Romain Grosjean allowed Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Callum Ilott to pull alongside.
The pair then banged wheels, with Grosjean sending Ilott off into the dirt before he returned to the track unharmed ahead of the checkered flag.
Grosjean’s No. 28 Andretti Autosport car logged a session-most 30 laps.
