Newgarden Tops Practice in Return to Laguna Seca

Team Penske‘s Josef Newgarden started out his weekend strong by finishing at the top of the first practice ahead of the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey. Newgarden held onto the top spot for roughly the last 15 minutes of the session, the only Chevrolet inside the top ten.

Almost every driver found themselves in the dirt during this session including the likes of Alexander Rossi, Sebastien Bourdais, Scott McLaughlin, Rinus VeeKay and more as the drivers got re-acclimated to the limits of WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Only one off track excursion brought out a red flag, Helio Castroneves went straight into the gravel trap following a lock-up in turn two with 18 minutes to go. Luckily, the Brazilian kept the car out of the barriers and practice went back to green with 13 minutes left. He finished in thirteenth.

One more red flag flew for McLaughlin that ended the session as he came to a halt on the Rahal straight before turn seven with only seconds left.

Colton Herta, the defending race winner at Laguna Seca, finished just behind his fellow American and had an off-track moment of his own at the very end, going in the gravel on the outside of turn nine. Herta managed to keep his car out of the wall and undamaged.

Championship leader Alex Palou finished third, already showing pace at a track he’s never raced at much like he did in Portland last week. Patricio O’Ward, who is second in the points standings, finished the session fourteenth struggling for grip. Their other title rival, Scott Dixon, finished in eleventh.

Ed Jones of Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan finished the session fourth, adding to the momentum he gained after a strong weekend in Portland. Rossi finished behind Jones in fifth after spending some time at the top of the charts earlier in the session.

In his second race with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Oliver Askew finished the session in sixth place. The Florida native was consistently in the top ten all session long and was the highest-placed RLL car of the trio.

James Hinchcliffe has struggled this season, but finished seventh today for Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport in a result that will provide a great momentum boost for the team. Castroneves’ MSR teammate Jack Harvey has continued his return to form with a top ten finish in practice, finishing eighth in this session and running consistently in the top ten much like Askew.

Romain Grosjean crashed the pace car while filming a promotional video earlier in the day, but he was unharmed in the incident and finished in ninth on his first trip to Laguna Seca. Rounding out the top ten was Marcus Ericsson, marking the second Chip Ganassi Racing car and ninth Honda in the top ten.

Practice 2 for the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey will take place on Saturday 18 September at 1345 EST / 1430 PST / 2230 BST.

Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey Practice 1 Results

RANK	CAR NO.	DRIVER	NAT	TEAM	BEST TIME
1	2	Josef Newgarden	USA	Team Penske	01:11.712 sec.
2	26	Colton Herta	USA	Andretti Autosport	01:11.792 sec.
3	10	Alex Palou	ESP	Chip Ganassi Racing	01:11.975 sec.
4	18	Ed Jones	UAE	Dale Coyne Racing w/ Vasser-Sullivan	01:12.016 sec.
5	27	Alexander Rossi	USA	Andretti Autosport	01:12.062 sec.
6	45	Oliver Askew	USA	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	01:12.151 sec.
7	29	James Hinchcliffe	CAN	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport	01:12.188 sec.
8	60	Jack Harvey	GBR	Meyer Shank Racing	01:12.228 sec.
9	51	Romain Grosjean (R)	FRA	Dale Coyne Racing w/ Dale Coyne Racing	01:12.321 sec.
10	8	Marcus Ericsson	SWE	Chip Ganassi Racing	01:12.356 sec.
11	9	Scott Dixon	NZL	Chip Ganassi Racing	01:12.441 sec.
12	3	Scott McLaughlin (R)	NZL	Team Penske	01:12.446 sec.
13	06	Helio Castroneves	BRA	Meyer Shank Racing	01:12.475 sec.
14	5	Pato O’Ward	MEX	Arrow McLaren Sp	01:12.498 sec.
15	12	Will Power	AUS	Team Penske	01:12.570 sec.
16	7	Felix Rosenqvist	SWE	Arrow McLaren Sp	01:12.701 sec.
17	15	Graham Rahal	USA	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	01:12.848 sec.
18	14	Sebastien Bourdais	FRA	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	01:12.950 sec.
19	30	Takuma Sato	JPN	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	01:12.992 sec.
20	22	Simon Pagenaud	FRA	Team Penske	01:13.031 sec.
21	21	Rinus VeeKay	NED	Ed Carpenter Racing	01:13.071 sec.
22	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	USA	Andretti Autosport	01:13.102 sec.
23	20	Conor Daly	USA	Ed Carpenter Racing	01:13.140 sec.
24	48	Jimmie Johnson (R)	USA	Chip Ganassi Racing	01:13.260 sec.
25	59	Max Chilton	GBR	Carlin	01:13.398 sec.
26	4	Dalton Kellett	CAN	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	01:13.725 sec.
27	77	Callum Ilott (R)	GBR	Juncos Hollinger Racing	01:13.739 sec.