Barber – EL1: Newgarden avenger and leader, Pourchaire 25th

Newgarden began this weekend in Alabama with a press conference, during which he appeared very emotional. The American pleaded his case after the disqualification inflicted on him and Scott McLaughlin for illegal use of the push-to-pass in St. Petersburg. The double champion notably explained that he and his team believed that the regulations had been modified, authorizing the use of push-to-pass on starts and restarts. The rules have indeed changed, but only for the Thermal Club exhibition event last month.

Despite a scare at the start of the session, with a spin entering the penultimate corner, Newgarden finished at the top of the timesheet, ahead of the McLaren by Pato O'Ward. Will Power (Penske), Colton Herta (Andretti) and Christian Lundgaard (Rahal Letterman Lanigan) completed the top 5.

Several pilots, including O'Ward, Alexander Red (McLaren) or even Felix Rosenqvist (Meyer Shank) lost track of the correct trajectory during the session, and found themselves left with an exit into the gravel. Agustin Canapino (Juncos Hollinger) caused the only interruption of the session, after a spin at the first corner. The Argentinian having stalled, he needed intervention from the stewards to restart.

Grosjean 6th and slightly angry with Harvey

As for the French pilots, Romain Grosjean (Juncos Hollinger) achieved the sixth best performance, in the very last seconds of the session. Like the entire field, the driver of the No. 77 used soft tires to achieve his time. Grosjean had a slight altercation on track with Jack Harvey (Coyne). The Briton came out of the pits and slightly hampered the Frenchman, who did not hesitate to push him slightly off the correct trajectory... just in front of Alexander Rossi!

To Theo Pourchaire (McLaren), learning continues in IndyCar with a 25th time, 1,3 seconds behind the best time. The champion F2 title discovers the track and completed 35 laps, four fewer than Christian Lundgaard. The Dane was the most prolific driver in this first session. Luca Ghiotto, making his IndyCar debut in the No. 51 Dale Coyne Racing car, brings up the rear.

Continuation of the weekend this Saturday at 18:15 p.m., with the second free practice session at Barber Motorsports Park.

Barber – EL1: Ranking

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