Arrow McLAREN Grand Prix at Road America: Friday Report
"We need to find a little bit more performance, but it's a good baseline that we can build off of."
Cheese, strong winds and race cars. Road America had it all for us during Friday's first practice session of the race weekend.
Eager to hit the track for the last race weekend of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES' first triple-header, all three drivers battled their way through the gusty winds of Wisconsin.Â
Pato O'Ward lead the team in practice, finishing the session in nineth, with Alexander Rossi reaching the checkered flag in 15th and Théo Pourchaire in 18th.Â
Read what the drivers and Team Principal Gavin Ward had to say after Friday's tricky session.
| Race Date | Sunday, June 9 |
| Round | 7 of 17 |
| Total Laps | 55 Laps |
| Total Race Distance | 220.55 miles / 354.94 km |
| Length | 4.0 miles / 6.44 km |
| Number of Turns | 14 |
| Practice 1 | P9 | 1:43.6815 |
| Total Laps | 14 Laps | Â |
"I love coming here, especially after the repave. It's a track that I really enjoy. However, we have some work to do after Practice 1. I don't think we rolled off as strong this year as we did last year. We'll be looking at what we need to improve on for tomorrow and get ready for qualifying."
| Practice 1 | P15 | 1:43.9887 |
| Total Laps | 15 Laps | Â |
"The No. 7 VELO Arrow McLaren Chevrolet was good today, but there are still some issues that need to be sorted out. Hopefully, we can get closer to finding those solutions tomorrow."
| Practice 1 | P18 | 1:44.2568 |
| Total Laps | 23 Laps | Â |
"We gained a lot from that session. We kept the No. 6 onsemi Arrow McLaren Chevrolet clean, which is a positive. It was a windy day today, which made it tough to drive the car. I enjoy this track, though; it's really nice but tough. It's a track that suits the NTT INDYCAR SERIES perfectly. We need to find a little bit more performance, but it's a good baseline that we can build off of."
Gavin Ward, Team Principal, Arrow McLaren, said:
"This is a very different track compared to a year ago. We had some slower lap times and it was a pretty windy day here. We have some work to do to get our Arrow McLaren Chevrolets in a better spot tomorrow."
Session Times
| Practice 2 | Saturday, June 8 | 11:10 - 12:10 p.m. ET | Peacock |
| Qualifying | Saturday, June 8 | 3:25 - 4:55 p.m. ET | Peacock |
| Warmup | Sunday, June 9 | 12:15 - 12:45Â p.m. ET | Peacock |
| Tune In | Sunday, June 9 | 3:30 p.m. ET | NBC |
| Green Flag | Sunday, June 9 | 3:45 p.m. ETÂ | NBC |