McLaughlin, the three-time Supercars champion who won the 2019 Bathurst 1000 for DJR Team Penske along with co-driver Alexandre Premat, finished top of this afternoon’s opening practice session at Barber.
Asked if there was something about the natural road courses that chimed with his driving style, McLaughlin, who won at Mid-Ohio and Portland last year, said: “I think maybe just there's a little bit less going on. There's a lot going on, don't get me wrong. But I think from bumps, how physical these cars are, probably on the lesser side. This place is hard on the neck because of the high speed.
“I really put Barber down to it's one of the most committed tracks I've ever driven on. From a perspective of racing Supercars at Bathurst… this is a similar level in terms of committing to a lap, trusting what you have underneath you – even if you don't understand what's underneath you as well, which is the beauty of IndyCar.
“Yeah, very happy with it. Our test [in mid-March in which he emerged fastest] translated really nicely. I feel comfortable. But there's a lot of laps left to go.
The practice session featured three red flags for incidents, and McLaughlin admitted that it had made things more difficult because “like I said before… you need confidence. Regardless if I've done a heap of laps here in testing or not, it's all about flow, getting into a rhythm.
“It's a bit like playing a guitar or drums, whatever; you want to get into a rhythm of hitting your laps, learning how long the tires take to warm up. It's hard when they stop and start like that. It's tough [but] I think it would be harder if we hadn't done the test day here.”
McLaughlin added, too, that the 17-turn 2.3-mile track was “very hard physically on the body. Probably one of the hardest in terms of that. So fitness-wise you got to be right.
“Definitely at the end of Sunday night, you're mentally drained probably more so than physically, but you are physically as well. It's pretty crazy! I love racing here, I really do. I think it is one of the best road courses on the calendar.”
Based on just one session, McLaughlin said he was uncertain whether the Firestone alternates could withstand two flying laps.
“I don't know, depends on temps,” he said. “I think you'll be wanting to make sure your tires are probably ready for that second lap.
“If you go a third, I think you might just get it. It will really depend on the competitiveness of the group as well in qualifying [Q1].”
McLaughlin’s teammates Will Power and Josef Newgarden have accumulated five wins at Barber between them. They finished opening practice in third and seventh respectively. Power was the cause of one of the red flags with an off at Turn 2, but bounced back with a strong flyer as the checkered flag fell.
