Andretti Autosport‘s Alexander Rossi was fastest in the early morning practice session for the GMR Grand Prix, stealing the top spot in the last five minutes of the session with a time of 1:09.878 around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, the first driver to dip below the 1:10.000 threshold.
Before the session even got started, Carlin announced that driver Max Chilton was dealing with travel issues and would not be able to make it to the circuit, forcing the team to withdrawal from the event entirely. The only other team unable to set a time was that of Chip Ganassi Racing‘s Alex Palou, who was dealing with a water leak.
There was one red flag with 30 minutes remaining for A.J. Foyt Enterprises‘ Sebastien Bourdais, who came to a halt on track on the straightway between turns 10 and 11 with electrical issues. After he was towed to the garage, the session went on clean to the end.
Ed Carpenter Racing‘s Rinus Veekay was the man to beat for the majority of the session, sitting atop the charts with a time of 1.10.062, almost four tenths faster than anyone else on-track. However, the young Dutchman got beat again by Meyer Shank Racing‘s Jack Harvey as the final few seconds of the session ticked away with a time of 1:09.964, good for second place. Veekay, who scored his first career pole at this track during the 2020 Harvest Grand Prix, finished the session in third.
Team Penske‘s Josef Newgarden took second place in the later stages with a time of 1.10.064, but he too would fall down the order thanks to Rossi and Harvey and finished in fourth place in his beautiful new Snap-On tools livery.
Rookie Romain Grosjean made his return to IndyCar in style after not competing at Texas Motor Speedway, putting his Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing Honda in fifth place with a time of 1:10.158. Grosjean was near the top of the scoring charts all session, marking an impressive run so far for the open-wheel veteran.
After a quiet session, Colton Herta jumped up to sixth towards the end of the session with a time of 1:10.225, showing some of the pace that got him a podium at last year’s Harvest GP.
Scott McLaughlin took advantage of the extra set of tyres given to rookies for practice sessions to jump into seventh place with a time of 1:10.304, the only other Penske car inside the top ten. Simon Pagenaud and Will Power finished eleventh and thirteenth respectively.
Ryan Hunter-Reay made his No. 28 DHL Honda the third Andretti car inside the top ten with a time of 1:10.435, good enough for eighth place. The 2012 IndyCar Series champion has been looking for a strong finish this season, and this could be the start of some good fortune for him.
Despite an off-track excursion and some balance issues, Graham Rahal put his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda ninth fastest with a time of 1:10.474. Rahal complained that his rear tyres were “not good at all” on the radio after he went off-track in turns 8 and 9 late in the session. The team will look to fix that before the start of the second practice session.
Rounding out the top ten was Conor Daly, returning to ECR after racing at Texas with Carlin, in a bright blue and pink paint scheme with Mannkind, a company providing needle free insulin, plastering the question “Tired of pricks?” on the side of the car. He set a lap time of 1:10.499.
Returning faces to the grid Juan Pablo Montoya, racing for Arrow McLaren SP, and Charlie Kimball, racing for A.J. Foyt, took the session to re-acclimate themselves with IndyCar, finishing twenty-first and twenty-third respectively. Sandwiched in between them was another returning rookie in CGR’s Jimmie Johnson, finishing twenty-second.
The second practice session for the GMR Grand Prix is scheduled for 1300 EST / 1800 GMT.
GMR Grand Prix Practice 1 Results
| RANK | CAR NO. | DRIVER | NAT | TEAM | TIME |
| 1 | 27 | Alexander Rossi | USA | Andretti Autosport | 01:09.878 |
| 2 | 60 | Jack Harvey | ENG | Meyer Shank Racing | 01:09.964 |
| 3 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay | NED | Ed Carpenter Racing | 01:10.062 |
| 4 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | USA | Team Penske | 01:10.064 |
| 5 | 51 | Romain Grosjean (R) | FRA | Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing | 01:10.158 |
| 6 | 26 | Colton Herta | USA | Andretti Autosport | 01:10.225 |
| 7 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin (R) | NZL | Team Penske | 01:10.304 |
| 8 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | USA | Andretti Autosport | 01:10.435 |
| 9 | 15 | Graham Rahal | USA | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 01:10.474 |
| 10 | 20 | Conor Daly | USA | Ed Carpenter Racing | 01:10.499 |
| 11 | 22 | Simon Pagenaud | FRA | Team Penske | 01:10.510 |
| 12 | 18 | Ed Jones | UAE | Dale Coyne Racing w/ Vasser-Sullivan | 01:10.554 |
| 13 | 12 | Will Power | AUS | Team Penske | 01:10.704 |
| 14 | 29 | James Hinchcliffe | CAN | Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport | 01:10.725 |
| 15 | 8 | Marcus Ericsson | SWE | Chip Ganassi Racing | 01:10.729 |
| 16 | 9 | Scott Dixon | NZL | Chip Ganassi Racing | 01:10.772 |
| 17 | 30 | Takuma Sato | JPN | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 01:10.800 |
| 18 | 5 | Pato O’Ward | MEX | Arrow McLaren SP | 01:10.813 |
| 19 | 4 | Dalton Kellett | CAN | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 01:10.864 |
| 20 | 7 | Felix Rosenqvist | SWE | Arrow McLaren SP | 01:10.965 |
| 21 | 86 | Juan Pablo Montoya | COL | Arrow McLaren SP | 01:11.483 |
| 22 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson (R) | USA | Chip Ganassi Racing | 01:11.687 |
| 23 | 11 | Charlie Kimball | USA | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 01:12.200 |
| 24 | 14 | Sebastien Bourdais | FRA | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 01:30.866 |
| 25 | 10 | Alex Palou | ESP | Chip Ganassi Racing | NO TIME |
