McLaughlin fastest, Dixon in ‘frustrating’ St Pete crash

Scott McLaughlin wound up on top of the timesheets for Team Penske while Scott Dixon put his Chip Ganassi Racing car in the wall at Turn 9.

Dixon’s car snapped sideways entering the corner before it slapped the concrete wall.

“Kind of a frustrating one,” said Dixon.

“The typical MO (modus operandi) for that corner is you clip the inside.

“For me, I got loose on entry, tried to save it, and then kind of go into a bit of an over-correction.

“Luckily it slid off a lot of the speed, or it killed a lot of the speed before I got to the wall.

“Sometimes you can tub a car and destroy them there, so hopefully we’re not too bad.

“Frustrating for the first practice. Car was really fast in the first portion, and then it looks like the CGR car were really quick in that one too.”

Dixon, who finished the session in 15th with 20 laps to his name, will not have to go to a back-up car for the race.

“We’ve just got to reset, get going again tomorrow morning,” said Dixon.

“Obviously, having good cars here out of the gate was definitely key.

“The teammates are doing a good job so we’ll be able to learn off that.”

McLaughlin lead Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist and Andrett Global’s Kyle Kirkwood in the session.

McLaughlin’s time, a 1:01.102s, put him just 0.064s clear of Rosenqvist.

“Decent first day,” said McLaughlin.

“Obviously being P1 is a great start. The DEX Imaging Chevy was straight away fast, and felt good and comfortable.

“It’s good for us. It’s the start of a long season and it was nice to have a smooth session to start. We’ll keep pressing on and see how we go.”

Kyffin Simpson was something of a surprise packet in fourth as the leading Chip Ganassi Racing driver while Marcus Ericsson completed the top five for Andretti.

New Zealand’s Marcus Armstrong was seventh while Australia’s Will Power ended up 18th.

The session featured a handful of red flag stoppages.

The first was for a spring that came adrift from Dennis Hauger’s Dale Coyne Racing car. The second was for Alexander Rossi, who spun and stalled his Ed Carpenter Racing car at Turn 4.

Josef Newgarden also suffered an off at the final corner and parked his Team Penske car in the run-off before coming up to a rest next to the tyre barrier.

Louis Foster cause the final red flag of the two-part practice when he locked up at the final turn and buried his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing car in the tyre barrier.

Results: IndyCar Series St Petersburg, Practice 1