David Malukas was the first driver to turn a 70sec lap, turning a 70.3589sec in the Dale Coyne Racing with HMD, and then delivered a 68.8387sec followed by a 68.4831sec, an average of 118.698mph around the 2.238-mile course in Lexington, OH.
His fellow rookies were out on track with him at this early stage, taking advantage of the extra set of primary tires supplied by Firestone. They were joined by Simona De Silvestro of Paretta Autosport-Chevrolet, Jimmie Johnson in the #48 Carvana Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda and Dalton Kellett of AJ Foyt Racing-Chevy.
Devlin De Francesco of Andretti Autosport-Honda got closest to Malukas, albeit 0.7sec away, by the time they pitted.
Then some of the veterans came out and started creeping up the order, with five-time Mid-Ohio polesitter Will Power of Team Penske-Chevy the first of the drivers to join Malukas in the 68sec bracket, before finally displacing him from the top with his sixth lap – a 68.3743sec (118.887mph). At that point Alexander Rossi and Romain Grosjean (both Andretti) and Helio Castroneves (Meyer Shank Racing-Honda) were into the top five, and then Pato O’Ward sprung up to third in the Arrow McLaren SP-Chevy, having turned the fastest time in the first sector.
Takuma Sato had just started his fourth lap in the Dale Coyne Racing with RWR-Honda, when he had very dramatic-looking trip across the sandtrap at Turn 1, bringing out the red flag.
In hot (91degF) and humid conditions, the track continued to evolve as more rubber went down, and 2021 Mid-Ohio winner Josef Newgarden moved into the top slot with a 68.0778sec lap on his 11th lap, just ahead of Ganassi’s defending champion Alex Palou (12th lap) and Penske’s IndyCar sophomore Scott McLaughlin in third with his 10th lap.
Barber Motorsports Park polesitter Rinus VeeKay moved into fifth for Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet.
Johnson, Malukas, De Silvestro and Tatiana Calderon of AJ Foyt Racing-Chevy were the first to strap on Firestone alternates. All drivers had access to one set of reds to simulate qualifying runs and try out the life of this softer rubber, before handing them back to Firestone at the end of the session.
Malukas was the first to make this change-up count, with 67.5361sec, an average of 120.362mph, but was then usurped by Palou who produced a 67.2610sec, with Rossi third and VeeKay fourth.
O’Ward’s first real flyer on reds moved him up to second but was still a quarter-second short of Palou in top spot, but Newgarden appeared to have no problem in delivering a 67.0549sec, two tenths clear of his nearest opposition, an average of 121.226mph, and then Palou’s teammate and championship leader Marcus Ericsson slipped into third seven minutes before the end of the session, just ahead of Colton Herta.
Another Swede, Felix Rosenqvist of AMSP, pushed Ericsson out of the top three, while one of the late converts from blacks to reds, Power, couldn’t find a clear lap while his tires were at their best, and finished up 14th.
The Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda team appeared to be struggling, Graham Rahal, Jack Harvey and Christian Lundgaard finishing the session in 20th, 22nd and 24th respectively.
De Silvestro showed notable improvement in her exploitation of the soft tires, finishing up 1.87sec off top spot, three quarters of a second faster than Calderon and 0.9sec ahead of Johnson.
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