After taking pole this afternoon in Nashville, Kyle Kirkwood took P1 in highline practice. A tremendous rebuild at the Nashville Superspeedway meant the No.12 Team Penske car finally hit the track after missing qualifying. David Malukas came out for both sessions. An impressive showing towards the end of the final practice, meant he ended it at the top.
Kirkwood Leads The Way In Highline Practice
Much to the relief of many, Malukas walked away from the terrifying qualifying crash with no broken or torn bones. After getting the green light to take part in the session, he slowly built himself up throughout. He spent a chunk of it down in last place, even complaining of not feeling solid with the back-up car’s clutch. He found he could only manage a top speed of 187.422. His fastest speed left him in P19.
The first ten minutes were led by Felix Rosenqvist in group A. The Indy 500 champion’s speed of 189.587 stayed at the top until around the 25-minute mark. Álex Palou eventually found his way to P1 only to be displaced by the pole sitter. Kyle Kirkwood, in the end, was the one to beat. He was the only driver to hit an average speed in the 190mph range. Championship rival, Palou, finished down in fourth. Nolan Siegel also showed solid speed, sitting in 6th by the time the checkered flag fell.
It was Caio Collet who impressed in the Nashville during highline practice. The rookie managed to finish the session second, only behind the polesitter. The Brazilian and his rookie counterpart, Dennis Hauger, both managed to consistently lap in the top 10 throughout. The third rookie on the grid of Mick Schumacher seemed to be the one struggling for speed. The German finished the session down in 22nd. He was five miles per hour down compared to the fastest rookie of Collet.
Rahal And Lungaard The Unhappiest In Final Practice
Nashville’s final practice had close calls and multiple cautions. It was Graham Rahal who seemed to have lost out the most across the whole day. He failed to qualify earlier in the day following a suspected fuel pressure issue. He then complained of something with the rear in highline practice failing to complete more than one timed lap. It all came crashing down, however, when he lost the rear in Turn two in final practice. After telling his team repeatedly something was wrong with the rear of the car, he found the wall bringing out final practice’s first caution.
Romain Grosjean and Marcus Armstrong were the two other drivers to cause a caution. Grosjean seemed to follow a similar outcome to Rahal. The French-Swiss driver found he went a little too high in two and drifted up into the wall. Armstrong, with less than nine minutes to go, causes the final caution. The driver who briefly went fastest found the wall and ended up in the grass. Santino Ferruci did well to take avoiding action, driving through the grass as Armstrong’s car came down the track.
Christian Lungaard appeared to also be a driver who was unhappy after the last two practice sessions. The Arrow McLaren driver finished highline practice down in p24 and replicated that same result in the final session. Siegel was the highest of the team’s three drivers sitting in 11th. Lungaard appeared to be struggling significantly with his feeling of the car’s steering.
Malukas bounces back after crash
The top spot saw several changes. It was the pole sitter and championship leader who initially were trading the top spot in the practice session. Both Kirkwood and Palou continued to find speed worthy of P1 with half of the session to go. It was Armstrong, however, who was the first to jump above both of them. The MSR driver popped to the top with a 193.325. Schumacher then followed him jumping into P2. A much better result than he found in highline practice.
It was David Malukas who brilliantly finished the session on top. Seconds before Armstrong’s caution, the American finally found the groove with his Penske machine. The result showed a resilient Malukas following his hospital clearance only hours earlier. He posted an average speed of 193.766 after spending a big part of the session outside of the top ten. He starts down in 24th tomorrow, but will hope to replicate his position from the final practice in the race.
Scott McLaughlin and Armstrong rounded out the top three at the checkered flag.