IndyCar Laguna Seca: Herta wins opening practice full of accidents – Motorsport.com

The 23-year-old Californian set the tone with a blistering lap of 1:07.5382 minutes on the 2.238-mile natural track course.

He achieved his fastest time with the harder primary tire compound.

Behind the Andretti Autosport leader and two-time race winner at Laguna Seca was Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward, who was 0.0529 seconds back and ahead of his teammate Alexander Rossi in third place. O’Ward completed 33 laps, the most in the session.

Marcus Ericsson’s final race weekend with Chip Ganassi Racing placed him fourth on the leaderboard, 0.2531 seconds off the top spot. Andretti’s Kyle Kirkwood finished fifth.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing was present in sixth and seventh, led by rookie Juri Vips ahead of teammate Graham Rahal. Juncos Hollinger Racing featured in the top 10 with Callum Ilott in eighth place.

Six-time IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon finished ninth, with Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus Veekay rounding out the rest of the top 10.

Romain Grosjean, Andretti Autosport Honda, Marcus Armstrong, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda

Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images

Although the first 30 minutes were uninterrupted, the remainder of the 1:15-minute session was plagued by interruptions with no fewer than five red flags.

It started with Romain Grosjean backing into the tire barrier at Turn 4 on his Andretti Autosport machine. The damage was significant as he had to get out as his Honda was being towed back to the paddock.

After a red flag that lasted just over 10 minutes, it was only 180 seconds before Vips received an urgent radio order to stop the car due to an apparent engine problem. The Estonian stopped on the Rahal Straight and was assisted by the safety crew who towed him to the top of the Corkscrew so that he could coast back into the pit lane on the descent.

Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin caused another failure after the next restart, losing the rear end in Turn 1 and getting stuck in the gravel.

Another restart came and went briefly when Junco’s Hollinger Racing rookie Agustin Canapino made a slide off the course that caused him to stall in Turn 6.

The issue continued as Will Power, who led Thursday’s testing, ended practice with a fifth red flag after making heavy contact with the barrier at Turn 4 and stalling on the track at Turn 5. The Australian finished the race in 13th place on the timesheets. “I damaged the floor, man,” Power called over the radio.

Before practice, IndyCar officials gave Canapino a six-place grid penalty for Sunday’s Monterey Grand Prix for an unauthorized engine change after the final lap at Portland International Raceway.

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