Barber – EL1: Palou fastest, Grosjean 21st

The Spaniard, Alex Palou, set the best time in EL1 at Barber Motorsports Park, in 1'06"4721. The new member of Chip Ganassi Racing beat Colton Herta (Andretti Autosport) by 1/100th, and Josef Newgarden (Penske) by 2/100th.

For its first in IndyCar, on his 35th birthday, Romain Grosjean set the 21st time, in the No. 51 of Dale Coyne Racing, in 1'07"5534.

His compatriots, Sébastien Bourdais (AJ Foyt Racing) and simon pagenaud (Penske), did not stand out any further, respectively 15th and 16th in these EL1s. “We came here twice for testing where it went well, confided the Manceau,  but this is not the case today, the behavior of the tires is really different, and the car is much too understeer».

Among the rookies, Scott McLaughlin (Penske) stood out, setting the 8th fastest time, less than 3/10ths behind Palou.

The 45-minute session was interrupted only once, when Felix Rosenqvist (McLaren SP) made a mistake when entering the pitlane

After hitting the wall heading into the pits at @BarberMotorPark, @FRosenqvist spoke with @IndyCaronNBC about what the issue was during his first practice session of 2021. #INDYCAR // #HIGPA pic.twitter.com/gYd0m7bDJq

- NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) April 17, 2021

The 2nd and final practice session will take place from 20:40 p.m., before qualifying, from 23:50 p.m.

The first race of the season will begin on Sunday at 21:30 p.m.