A strong day to start the weekend on the streets of Long Beach.

The Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team arrived in southern California for the third round of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, ready to race in Sunday's Grand Prix of Long Beach.

After Practice 1 concluded, Pato O'Ward finishes first overall, followed by Alexander Rossi in fifth and Felix Rosenqvist inside the top 10 in ninth position.

On Saturday, Arrow McLaren will be back on track for Practice 2 and Qualifying, looking to back up its strong performance in qualifying shown at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and at Texas Motor Speedway.

Take a look at what the three Arrow McLaren drivers and Racing Director Gavin Ward had to say following the 75-minute session on Friday.

Pato O'Ward, Driver, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, said:

"It's a tight field. Long Beach always is. We just kept chipping at it today. We rolled off strong, but we definitely made adjustments to get it a little bit more in the window, a bit more to this track's characteristics and to what I like. So far, it's good and we're going to look to see where we can make improvements. I think we're in good shape for tomorrow. It's all about executing; it's going to be really, really tough."

Alexander Rossi, Driver, No. 7 NTT DATA Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, said:

"It was a really good first session. It's just small adjustments from here on out. This is two weekends in a row now where the car has rolled off in the window. It's always a pleasure when that happens. Now, it's just about fine-tuning, keeping up with the track and executing to hopefully be fighting for a win on Sunday."

Felix Rosenqvist, Driver, No. 6 onsemi Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, said:

"That’s the first practice done here at Long Beach. It’s always hectic with lots of cars on a small track, so there was a lot of traffic. But I thought overall we were good. As a team, we covered the top nine, and Pato was quickest, which is promising for the weekend ahead. It’s still early, and we have a lot of stuff to go through, but overall I’m happy."

Gavin Ward, Racing Director, Arrow McLaren, said:

"That’s a great start to the weekend for the team. Pato obviously finished the session fastest. With these practice sessions, you have to take everything with a grain of salt because a lot of people get their laps messed up. We'll try to weed through the data to see how good we are, but we're pretty confident we had three top-10 cars today, as it showed with the timing. We've learned a few things which we'll carry into the rest of the weekend, but overall it's just fun to be here, see the crowd and all of the papaya support."

Remaining Session Times