Last year’s Indianapolis 500 winner, Marcus Ericsson, has driven his Chip Ganassi Racing entry to the fastest lap of IndyCar’s pre-season Open Test at The Thermal Club.
The Swede achieved his time early on the second and final day of running at the Californian venue, punching out a 1:38.4223s just four laps into proceedings.
That lap time was almost a second faster than Colton Herta’s benchmark from the day prior and no one would beat it, although Christian Lundgaard got somewhat close when he set a 1:38.5682s in his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing entry.
Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti Autosport) was third-fastest in the day’s earlier session on a 1:38.7885s and then topped the latter session with a 1:38.8279s.
Callum Ilott was second-quickest in that hit-out and fourth on combined times on a 1:38.8404s in his Juncos Hollinger Racing car, the quickest of the Chevrolets for the test.
Marcus Armstrong (Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) rounded out the combined top five while Herta (Andretti Autosport Honda) was only 15th on the day, despite setting a 1:39.1047s.
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The first event of the season is the Grand Prix of St Petersburg on March 3-5 (local time).
Results: Day 2
| Pos | Num | Driver | C/E/T | Session | Fastest lap |
| 1 | 8 | Marcus Ericsson | D/H/F | Practice 3 | 1:38.4223 |
| 2 | 45 | Christian Lundgaard | D/H/F | Practice 3 | 1:38.5682 |
| 3 | 27 | Kyle Kirkwood | D/H/F | Practice 3 | 1:38.7885 |
| 4 | 77 | Callum Ilott | D/C/F | Practice 4 | 1:38.8404 |
| 5 | 11 | Marcus Armstrong | D/H/F | Practice 4 | 1:38.8409 |
| 6 | 12 | Will Power | D/C/F | Practice 3 | 1:38.8702 |
| 7 | 10 | Alex Palou | D/H/F | Practice 4 | 1:38.8718 |
| 8 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin | D/C/F | Practice 3 | 1:38.9052 |
| 9 | 6 | Felix Rosenqvist | D/C/F | Practice 3 | 1:38.9410 |
| 10 | 9 | Scott Dixon | D/H/F | Practice 3 | 1:38.9762 |
| 11 | 60 | Simon Pagenaud | D/H/F | Practice 4 | 1:38.9769 |
| 12 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | D/C/F | Practice 3 | 1:39.0301 |
| 13 | 7 | Alexander Rossi | D/C/F | Practice 3 | 1:39.0913 |
| 14 | 28 | Romain Grosjean | D/H/F | Practice 3 | 1:39.0944 |
| 15 | 26 | Colton Herta | D/H/F | Practice 4 | 1:39.1047 |
| 16 | 5 | Pato O’Ward | D/C/F | Practice 3 | 1:39.1486 |
| 17 | 18 | David Malukas | D/H/F | Practice 4 | 1:39.3668 |
| 18 | 06 | Helio Castroneves | D/H/F | Practice 3 | 1:39.3803 |
| 19 | 29 | Devlin DeFrancesco | D/H/F | Practice 3 | 1:39.5308 |
| 20 | 30 | Jack Harvey | D/H/F | Practice 3 | 1:39.6960 |
| 21 | 78 | Agustin Canapino | D/C/F | Practice 4 | 1:39.7039 |
| 22 | 15 | Graham Rahal | D/H/F | Practice 4 | 1:39.7432 |
| 23 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay | D/C/F | Practice 3 | 1:39.8912 |
| 24 | 51 | Sting Ray Robb | D/H/F | Practice 4 | 1:39.8983 |
| 25 | 14 | Santino Ferrucci | D/C/F | Practice 3 | 1:39.9366 |
| 26 | 20 | Conor Daly | D/C/F | Practice 3 | 1:40.1192 |
| 27 | 55 | Benjamin Pedersen | D/C/F | Practice 4 | 1:40.1297 |
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