IndyCar Texas: Pagenaud leads Rosenqvist in opening practice

Pagenaud, who joined MSR from Team Penske during the off-season, lapped at 223.087mph to edge Rosenqvist's 222.878mph effort.

Fresh from being announced as part of the McLaren Formula 1 team's testing lineup, Andretti Autosport driver Colton Herta was third-fastest while oval racing rookie Callum Ilott was a remarkable fourth-quickest for Juncos-Holinger Racing with the aid of a tow.

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

Pagenaud set the early pace around the 1.5-mile oval, with his 16th tour of 46 proving the fastest of the session.

Rosenqvist’s seventh lap of 41 would remain the closest Pagenaud would come to a challenge, although St. Petersburg winner Scott McLaughlin (Team Penske) and Rosenqvist’s team-mate Pato O’Ward were also swiftly into the 222mph bracket.

With 18 minutes remaining, Herta moved up to third, albeit with the aid of a tow.

Ganassi’s six-time IndyCar champion and five-time Texas winner Scott Dixon then also moved into the 222mph bracket to set the fifth-fastest time, before Ilott grabbed fourth spot on his 41st of 43 laps to usurp McLaughlin, Dixon and 2021 Texas winner O’Ward.

Callum Ilott, Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: IndyCar Series

Marcus Ericsson and reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou ensured there were three Ganassi cars in the top 10, the pair split by another Texas newcomer in Romain Grosjean (Andretti Autosport).

While rookie Kyle Kirkwood was 15th in the lead AJ Foyt Racing entry, just ahead of Pagenaud's team-mate Helio Castroneves, the other two Foyt cars were left to bring up the 27-car field.

Series returnee JR Hildebrand could only muster 219.007mph and trailed team-mate Dalton Kellet on 219.605s in 26th spot.

Qualifying begins at 1:00pm local time, before IndyCar's additional practice session organised to open up a second lane around the track that is hoped to improve passing opportunities.

IndyCar Texas practice times:

Cla	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Gap	Mph
1	Simon Pagenaud	Meyer Shank Racing	46	23.237		223.087
2	Felix Rosenqvist	Arrow McLaren SP	41	23.259	0.021	222.878
3	Colton Herta	Andretti Autosport	39	23.269	0.031	222.786
4	Callum Ilott	Juncos Hollinger Racing	43	23.324	0.086	222.257
5	Scott McLaughlin	Team Penske	42	23.326	0.089	222.234
6	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	46	23.328	0.091	222.215
7	Patricio O'Ward	Arrow McLaren SP	34	23.329	0.092	222.204
8	Marcus Ericsson	Chip Ganassi Racing	42	23.355	0.117	221.964
9	Romain Grosjean	Andretti Autosport	56	23.367	0.129	221.848
10	Alex Palou	Chip Ganassi Racing	46	23.378	0.140	221.744
11	Devlin DeFrancesco	Andretti Autosport	49	23.379	0.141	221.737
12	Takuma Sato	Dale Coyne Racing	33	23.392	0.155	221.609
13	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	45	23.399	0.161	221.547
14	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	16	23.415	0.177	221.397
15	Kyle Kirkwood	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	56	23.419	0.181	221.354
16	Helio Castroneves	Meyer Shank Racing	51	23.433	0.195	221.225
17	Christian Lundgaard	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	48	23.437	0.199	221.188
18	David Malukas	Dale Coyne Racing with HMD	45	23.439	0.201	221.166
19	Will Power	Team Penske	46	23.445	0.208	221.105
20	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Autosport	32	23.476	0.238	220.818
21	Ed Carpenter	Ed Carpenter Racing	28	23.513	0.275	220.469
22	Jimmie Johnson	Chip Ganassi Racing	69	23.518	0.280	220.426
23	Jack Harvey	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	53	23.528	0.291	220.328
24	Rinus van Kalmthout	Ed Carpenter Racing	18	23.529	0.292	220.317
25	Conor Daly	Ed Carpenter Racing	23	23.574	0.336	219.899
26	Dalton Kellett	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	52	23.606	0.368	219.605
27	J.R. Hildebrand	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	26	23.670	0.432	219.007
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