The Month of May officially gets underway Friday morning as the NTT IndyCar Series takes to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course for its first practice ahead of the 2026 IndyCar Indy GP.
The 40-minute practice begins at 9:00 a.m. ET and kicks off a busy Friday at IMS. A second practice session and qualifying are still to come before Saturday’s 85-lap race. The field returns to the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course with reigning race winner Alex Palou among the drivers to watch, as the championship leader looks to continue his recent strength at Indianapolis.
The session opens under sunny skies and cool 54°F conditions, giving the field a beautiful start to the Month of May at IMS.
Ericsson sets early benchmark in IndyCar Indy GP Practice 1
The first car out and across the line is Scott McLaughlin, with several drivers doing an outlap and heading back to pit lane.
Seven minutes into the session, Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson is the next driver across the line. He is followed by Nolan Siegel, Caio Collet and Kyffin Simpson as the field began to cycle onto the IMS road course.
Ericsson sets the first official lap time of the session with a 1:15.523 before quickly improving to a 1:12.199, establishing the early benchmark in the opening minutes of Practice 1.
Kyle Kirkwood does a lap with a tool mat attached to his rear wing.
Ericsson continues to lead the field with a 1:10.759, in front of Alexander Rossi, Collet, and Marcus Armstrong. The top six drivers are in the 1:11s.
Palou takes over as times tumble
23 minutes into the session, Alex Palou takes first place from Ericsson with a 1:10.269. Kirkwood follows him with a 1:10.647.
Mick Schumacher takes a trip through the grass just before coming into pit lane. He is recovering from a fractured wrist from his incident back in St. Petersburg.
With 10 minutes remaining in the session, Rinus VeeKay has completed the most running of anyone in the field with 12 laps. Drivers continue to cycle in and out of pit lane as teams make adjustments ahead of the final runs.
The top eight are all Honda-powered: Palou, Kirkwood, Ericsson, Graham Rahal, Felix Rosenqvist, Kyffin Simpson, Louis Foster and Romain Grosjean. The first Chevrolet entries are Christian Lundgaard in ninth and Alexander Rossi in 10th.
While Palou remains at the top of the order, the session is far from settled. The top 13 are covered by just over seven-tenths of a second and the entire 25-car field separated by only 1.5301s.
Group 1 takes over as split practice begins
Christian Lundgaard sets the first lap time of the Group 1 segment with a 1:10.800 before improving to a 1:10.482, putting himself at the top of the order early in the 12-minute run. Christian Rasmussen follows in second with a 1:10.613, with Palou, Rahal and Collet rounding out the early top five.
Schumacher also completes a lap with a tool mat attached to his rear wing. This marks the second time in Practice 1 that a team has sent a car out with equipment still on the wing.
With four minutes remaining, Rossi jumps to the top with a 1:10.478, edging Lundgaard by just 0.003s. That time is quickly eclipsed by Palou, who lowers the overall benchmark to a 1:10.159.
The times continue to tumble in the final minute, with Malukas briefly slotting into second before Rahal jumps ahead of him. Palou ultimately ends Group 1 on top with a 1:10.090, ahead of Rahal, Malukas, Kyffin Simpson and Marcus Armstrong.
Dixon, Rossi, Lundgaard, Rasmussen and Siegel round out the top 10, all covered by less than six-tenths of a second.
Group 2 closes out practice 1
Kyle Kirkwood is the first driver in Group 2 to set a lap time, opening the segment with a 1:12.503. All three Andretti Global drivers are part of the Group 2 running.
Pato O’Ward is the first Group 2 driver to break into the 1:10s with a 1:10.764, before Will Power quickly moves ahead with a 1:10.647.
Ericsson lowers the Group 2 benchmark further with a 1:10.528, though that lap remains nearly half a second off the fastest time in Group 1.
Rosenqvist drops the fastest time to a 1:10.216, moving Group 2 closer to the pace set in the opening split session. Kirkwood then takes over at the top in the final moments, ending Group 2 fastest with a 1:10.214.
Rosenqvist finishes second in Group 2 by just 0.002s, with Ericsson, Louis Foster and Power completing the top five.
Palou stays on top as IndyCar Indy GP Practice 1 ends
Palou’s Group 1 benchmark of 1:10.090 holds as the fastest lap of IndyCar Indy GP Practice 1, with Rahal ending the session second, 0.108s behind. Kirkwood finishes third overall after topping Group 2 with a 1:10.215, narrowly ahead of Rosenqvist by just 0.001s.
Malukas completes the top five, followed by Kyffin Simpson, Marcus Armstrong, Scott Dixon, Alexander Rossi and Christian Lundgaard. The top 10 are separated by less than four-tenths of a second, while the full 25-car field is covered by 1.709s as the NTT IndyCar Series turns its focus to Practice 2 and qualifying later Friday.
