The shortened race weekend for the Sonsio Grand Prix kicked off with Practice 1 and INDYCAR’s Month of May has officially began. Facing three sessions today it is crucial to be on pace from the get go. Ultimately, [] set the fastest time, but can he maintain the early momentum as the day continues?
Despite tomorrow looking clear, today they will face mixed weather conditions. With the threat of rain present for qualifying, drivers needed to get some dry running to prepare for the race.
Schumacher Opens Up
In the opening race of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES in St. Petersburg, Mick Schumacher was involved in a Lap 1 crash with Santino Ferrucci and Sting Ray Robb. Although an unfortunate, early end to his first INDYCAR race, Schumacher walked away unharmed. Or so it was presumed.
Ahead of the Sonsio Grand Prix, he opened up and shared that he did sustain an injury from the crash. He broke his left wrist. The German requires surgery to fix the injury. However, due to the close calendar, Schumacher can only have the required surgery after the season ends in September.
Consequently, the No. 47 driver has been racing with an injured wrist since that first race, and will continue to do so. “Unfortunately, a piece of my wrist broke off during the crash in St. Pete, and I’m still struggling with that. It basically means I get out of the car in pain.” He told Sky Germany.
Full Field Practice Led By Palou
Practice 1 began with the full field able to get laps in. Despite the incoming rain threatening to impact later sessions, drivers were slow to get out and get some dry running. Arrow McLaren’s Nolan Siegel set the benchmark, but Marcus Ericsson soon went faster. His lap time of 1:10.758 saw him maintain the P1 for most of the session.
The Chip Ganassi Racing and Team Penske cars were slow to join the track. Instead, they opted to let the track rubber in and watch the conditions before going out. Álex Palou eventually came out, and had a rare mistake. Running over the curb, he nearly slid out through Turn 9. But the reigning champion was able to save the car, and the next lap he went to the top of the leaderboard with a 1:10.269.
This early stage of Practice 1 saw a close grid, with the 25 drivers separated by 1.5 seconds. Continuing their improvements, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing were showing pace straight away, with Graham Rahal and Louis Foster both in the top 10.
Palou Continues to Set the Pace in Group 1
Practice continues with drivers switching to the soft tyres in the group stages. Group 1 saw the field continue to adjust to the track, now testing for qualifying later in the day. Christian Lundgaard set an early benchmark with a 1:10.482.
Once on the red-walled tyres, Palou was quick to set the quickest lap. The 1:10.090 saw him finish the session on top, and he was one of four drivers to better his time from the first stage. The other three were Rahal, David Malukas, and Kyffin Simpson. Despite being on the softer tyres, no one else could challenge Palou’s hard tyre time.
Drivers remained on track and focused during this session. Unusually, Schumacher exited the pits with a tool mat from pit lane stuck in his rear wing. A similar situation happened to Kyle Kirkwood in the first session of practice. Fortunately, neither time did it harm the drivers and they quickly got back to the pits to have it removed.
Kirkwood Tops Group 2
In the final session of practice, the Andretti Global duo of Ericsson and Will Power were setting the pace. However, no one was getting close to the lap times set in Group 1. Pato O’Ward and Scott McLaughlin were both able to find more speed compared to the full-field session. The duo were both able to get into the 1:10’s, finding a second of pace each.
With a minute remaining, Romain Grosjean went wide and had to cut over the grass. Felix Rosenqvist shot to the top with a 1:10.216, but Kirkwood was able to go two hundredths quicker, to finish at the top of the leaderboard. Both Foster and Schumacher were able to show the strength of RLL Racing at the IMS Road Course. Foster finished the session fourth, with Schumacher tenth.
Overall, Practice 1 for the Sonsio Grand Prix was a calm session, with drivers focusing on staying clean and gaining data. With no one close to his time, Palou has the momentum as they look towards the rest of the sessions today. But, with rain forecasted, will the mixed weather change the grid up?