Palou, who has won this race twice before, set a fast time of 1 minute and 43.1709 seconds. He used special tires to do this.
“It’s a great start,” said Palou, who is the current champion. “It doesn’t mean much yet, but it shows that the car is good and easy to drive. I’m happy to be back here.”
Colton Herta was second fastest, just 0.0797 seconds behind Palou. He used regular tires for his run.
Santino Ferrucci also did well, finishing third just behind Palou. He made his move in the last few minutes of the session with the special tires.
Last year, Ferrucci’s team did well here. He felt confident about his car this time too.
Josef Newgarden and Christian Lundgaard were fourth and fifth fastest, respectively.
Scott Dixon came sixth, followed by Will Power and Scott McLaughlin in seventh and eighth places.
Pato O’Ward was ninth, and Marcus Armstrong, who got his first podium last weekend, finished tenth.
During the practice, some drivers went off the track, including Lundgaard, Power, and Dixon.
But Romain Grosjean had the worst accident. He crashed into the tire barrier, damaging his car’s front left side. This caused the session to be stopped temporarily.
Grosjean said, “Things didn’t go as planned. We’ll look at the data and see what happened.”
Nolan Siegel replaced Grosjean’s teammate, Agustin Canapino, who took a sudden leave. Grosjean praised Siegel’s performance, even though he ended up 26th overall. Siegel followed Palou, learning from one of the best drivers on the track.
