Before any car had turned a competitive lap, Kirkwood’s team-mate Dalton Kellett caused a red flag when his car ground to a halt in Turn 5, as an electrical issue within his steering wheel forced him to stop.
Kellett is already destined for a six-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine change, since his Indy 500 race engine – which would normally be used in Detroit and beyond – was damaged in his shunt on Carb Day.
The early runners were inevitably the rookies, since they are granted an extra set of primaries to be used in opening practice. Helio Castroneves in the Meyer Shank Racing was also an early taker and he easily outpaced them all on the first runs.
Then with 25 minutes to go, a second red flew. Simon Pagenaud’s Meyer Shank car needed bump-starting from Turn 7’s runoff and had an engine issue. But Felix Rosenqvist triggered a long stopper with a crash at Turn 1, in which the Arrow McLaren SP tail kicked out on turn in, snagged the outside tyre wall with the left-rear and dragged the left-front in as well.
After the stoppage and with 16 minute to go, Pato O’Ward nailed a lap that finally displaced Castroneves from the top of the lap times – by just 0.0407s – producing a 1min16.7823s lap. Then he trimmed tenths off, landing a 1min16.1556s.
Patricio O’Ward, Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet
Photo by: IndyCar
At that point, his 2023 team-mate Alexander Rossi slotted his Andretti Autosport into second, 0.36s behind O’Ward, and just ahead of Pagenaud, whose MSR machine had recovered from its earlier issues and now sat just ahead of the sister car of Castroneves.
Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson then also pushed Castroneves down to fifth to become fastest Chip Ganassi driver.
With just three minutes to go, however, Kyle Kirkwood – who last year won both Indy Lights races at Belle Isle – sent his AJ Foyt Racing into top spot, with a 1min16.1345s lap.
That was good enough to keep him top by the finish, 0.0211s ahead of O’Ward, with Rossi, Pagenaud, Ericsson completing the top five.
Colton Herta eventually bumped his way into sixth but over half a second off Kirkwood’s pace-setting time, while Scott McLaughlin was fastest of the Penske trio, claiming eighth ahead of Romain Grosjean (Andretti) and Scott Dixon (Ganassi).
IndyCar Detroit – FP1 results