Kanaan leads O’Ward in sole practice

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver was the only runner to nudge past the 220mph barrier with his 16th of 54 laps turned at the 1.5-mile oval near Fort Worth. This was a psychological boost for the Brazilian driver considering he will have to start from the last row of the grid after qualifying was canned due to inclement weather compressing the schedule.

For the first race of this weekend’s double-header, the grid will be set by entrant points, which means Kanaan, the 2004 champion and 2013 Indy 500 winner, has had to rely on Jimmie Johnson’s points accrued from the opening two rounds of the season.

Kanaan, who had planned to call time on his IndyCar career that began in 1998 following an oval-only schedule in 2020, will race another oval-only programme in the #48 machine that seven-time NASCAR Cup champion Johnson will drive on road courses this season.

Although most running was done in traffic, Kanaan was also top of the no-tow speeds.

Pato O’Ward, who topped the last test at Texas Motorsport Speedway, was second fastest in the #5 Arrow McLaren SP car, ahead of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Takuma Sato.

Four-time and defending Texas winner Scott Dixon, along with Marcus Ericsson, ensured there were three Ganassi cars in the top six, while Alex Palou, points leader and therefore polesitter for the first race, was 11th.

Team Penske were fifth, eighth, 16th and 20th respectively in practice, with Simon Pagenaud – runner-up in Texas last year – leading the quartet.

James Hinchcliffe led the Andretti Autosport efforts in ninth place in practice, while Conor Daly, displaced by regular team owner and oval specialist Ed Carpenter, comfortably eclipsed his usual team boss in 12th place for Carlin, with Carpenter down in 19th.

The race has been brought forward by 35 minutes to start at 6.10pm local time, and will see Palou leading Will Power, Scott Dixon, Colton Herta, Simon Pagenaud and Jack Harvey at the front of the grid.

IndyCar Texas Motor Speedway – Practice results