Josef Newgarden leads the way in Milwaukee sole practice session. He topped the board with a speed of 159.429mph. Álex Palou immediately showed pace after a tough weekend last time out, whilst Nolan Siegel with a strong race in DC found the wall today.
An Early Caution For Siegel
After his strong weekend last time out, the young American ended his practice prematurely. Fifteen minutes into the session Siegel had a snap in the middle of the corner that he felt, “caught him off guard”. The blow comes after his sixth-place finish in Washington DC, a decent result. The Arrow McLaren driver will not have his seat next year. After failing to produce the results the team wants, this would’ve been the last way he wanted to start the weekend.
The second caution in Milwaukee came from Christian Rasmussen and Kyle Kirkwood. The Andretti driver had just gone past when Rasmussen turned prematurely. Neither driver sounded pleased on the radio. Kirkwood made no attempt to turn into lane one at the time, as it was his corner. The misjudgement by Rasmussen meant he would briefly go airborne after being collected by the No.27. Kirkwood and Rasmussen end the session in eighth and 13th respectively.
Team Penske Focus On Long Runs
The opening session saw drivers with different run plans. The likes of Alexander Rossi doing qualifying simulations out the box, but the likes of Scott Mclaughlin opted to do long runs. McLaughlin spent majority of the practice session being the highest placed Team Penske driver in 15th. When it came to the team doing qualifying runs, however, he was the lowest in 12th.
Teammates, Newgarden and David Malukas, at one point sat down in 20th and 21st doing their race runs. Malukas has had a poor run of form in the past two races. He found the wall in DC and finished 17th in Markham. The end of the session saw Newgarden jump to the top and the No.12 in fourth. Both take nine-place engine penalties in Milwaukee. They’re two of five this weekend alongside: Palou, String Ray Robb, and Rinus Veekay.
Palou With Speed Out The Box
The championship leader spent the majority of practice at the top of the leaderboard. He led the way with a 1:58.889. With later qualifying sims from the Penske drivers, he fell to third by the end of the session. After a severe loss of points in DC, Palou looked to be strong straight away in Milwaukee. He remained at the top until Newgarden displaced him with less than ten minutes to go.
Sting Ray Robb was another driver who showed promise in the session. Both him and his teammate Veekay sat in the top ten at the time the checkered flag fell. Robb in 10th, Veekay in an impressive fifth.
Kyffin Simpson also had strong signs of pace. The Chip Ginassi Racing driver came into pit lane unhappy after his first run. After coming in, it seemed the team had found something as he immediately popped up to second behind his teammate. He finished the session in 11th.
Rookie Dennis Hauger brilliantly shot up to P2 with under a minute to go. The speed shown by usual and surprising suspects sets us up for an exciting qualifying tomorrow at 11:00am ET and 5pm CEST.