Texas IndyCar: Pagenaud leads Rosenqvist in opening practice

There was a very early yellow when rookie David Malukas’ Dale Coyne Racing with RWR-Honda was slow on track and trickled into pitlane, but action swiftly resumed. However, 10min into the session, IndyCar oval debutant Jimmie Johnson’s Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda came down onto the apron with his engine off, briefly causing a second yellow.

For the first 15mins of the session, Meyer Shank Racing-Honda’s Simon Pagenaud was the only driver in the 223mph zone – 223.087mph/23.2376sec of the 1.5-mile oval. His cause helped by the additional 220lbs / eight percent increase in downforce thanks to the underfloor sidewalls and bargeboards that teams can use here in 2022.

That speed, set on his 16^th of what would eventually be 46 laps, would remain the fastest of the session.

And Rosenqvist’s seventh lap of 41 would remain the closest Pagenaud would come to a challenge, with a 222.878mph effort. St. Petersburg winner Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske and Rosenqvist’s teammate and 2021 Texas winner Pato O’Ward were also very swiftly into the 222s.

With 18 minutes remaining, Colton Herta moved his Andretti Autosport-Honda up to third, albeit with the aid of a tow, during what appeared to be a qualifying simulation.

Ganassi’s six-time IndyCar champion and five-time Texas winner Scott Dixon then also moved into the 222mph bracket to set fifth fastest time, and with fewer than five minutes remaining, Takuma Sato’s Dale Coyne Racing-Honda completed a quali sim and slid into 10^th.

However, rookie Callum Ilott – with the aid of a tow – managed to grab a startling fourth fastest in the Juncos Hollinger Racing-Chevrolet on his 41^st of 43 laps, to usurp McLaughlin, Dixon and O’Ward.

Marcus Ericsson and Alex Palou ensured there were three Ganassi cars in the Top 10, the pair split by another Texas ‘newcomer’, Romain Grosjean of Andretti Autosport-Honda, although the former F1 driver did test impressively here two weeks ago.

One of his Andretti teammates and series rookie Devlin DeFrancesco wound up 11^th while a former Indy Lights teammate of DeFrancesco’s, Kyle Kirkwood, was 15^th in the AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet.

The other two Foyt cars of Dalton Kellett and series returnee JR Hildebrand were left at the bottom of the table, just behind the three Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevys.

Team Penske finished their track work early, feeling they had covered quali sim and race-level downforce work between them.

Qualifying begins at 1.00pm local (Central) time.

P	Name	FTime	Diff	FL	Laps	FSpeed	Engine	Team
1	Simon Pagenaud	23.2376	23.2376	16	46	223.087	Honda	Meyer Shank Racing
2	Felix Rosenqvist	23.2594	0.0218	7	41	222.878	Chevy	Arrow McLaren SP
3	Colton Herta	23.2690	0.0314	33	39	222.786	Honda	Andretti Autosport
4	Callum Ilott	23.3243	0.0867	41	43	222.257	Chevy	Juncos Hollinger Racing
5	Scott McLaughlin	23.3268	0.0892	13	42	222.234	Chevy	Team Penske
6	Scott Dixon	23.3288	0.0912	37	46	222.215	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
7	Pato O'Ward	23.3299	0.0923	15	34	222.204	Chevy	Arrow McLaren SP
8	Marcus Ericsson	23.3551	0.1175	36	42	221.964	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
9	Romain Grosjean	23.3673	0.1297	44	56	221.848	Honda	Andretti Autosport
10	Alex Palou	23.3783	0.1407	44	46	221.744	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
11	Devlin DeFrancesco	23.3791	0.1415	46	49	221.737	Honda	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport
12	Takuma Sato	23.3926	0.1550	30	33	221.609	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR
13	Graham Rahal	23.3991	0.1615	9	45	221.547	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
14	Josef Newgarden	23.4150	0.1774	16	16	221.397	Chevy	Team Penske
15	Kyle Kirkwood	23.4195	0.1819	29	56	221.354	Chevy	AJ Foyt Enterprises
16	Helio Castroneves	23.4332	0.1956	41	51	221.225	Honda	Meyer Shank Racing
17	Christian Lundgaard	23.4371	0.1995	46	48	221.188	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
18	David Malukas	23.4394	0.2018	45	45	221.166	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing with HMD
19	Will Power	23.4459	0.2083	10	46	221.105	Chevy	Team Penske
20	Alexander Rossi	23.4763	0.2387	28	32	220.818	Honda	Andretti Autosport
21	Ed Carpenter	23.5135	0.2759	28	28	220.469	Chevy	Ed Carpenter Racing
22	Jimmie Johnson	23.5181	0.2805	69	69	220.426	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
23	Jack Harvey	23.5286	0.2910	53	53	220.328	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
24	Rinus VeeKay	23.5297	0.2921	12	18	220.317	Chevy	Ed Carpenter Racing
25	Conor Daly	23.5745	0.3369	23	23	219.899	Chevy	Ed Carpenter Racing
26	Dalton Kellett	23.6060	0.3684	13	52	219.605	Chevy	AJ Foyt Enterprises
27	JR Hildebrand	23.6705	0.4329	25	26	219.007	Chevy	AJ Foyt Enterprises