IndyCar | Practice | Iowa | McLaughlin leads Siegel as Kirkwood has costly crash - Motorsport

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The only practice session of the Iowa IndyCar doubleheader round is in the books, view the full report and results below.

High line and standard practice due to take place on Friday got cancelled as a tornado, thunderstorms and rain hit close to or at the circuit.

Kirkwood in the wall

In high line practice as the series looked to make sure two lanes were available for racing this weekend, Kyle Kirkwood lost the car in dirty air, hit the wall and damaged the suspension on the right front and rear. It leaves him on the back foot heading into qualifying.

50-minute standard practice got underway as the drivers looked to find a good balance ahead of qualifying.

Championship leader Alex Palou immediately went P1, posting a 181.055mph lap, leading Daly and Rasmussen. The Spaniard then reached a 182.013.

The cautions begin

A caution was thrown for an unusual reason as Marcus Ericsson missed pit road attempting to pit. He had to use the run-off apron. The 2022 Indy 500 winner got a 5-minute hold on pit lane.

Palou led Daly, Ericsson, O’Ward and Rasmussen when the action resumed.

Team Penske soon went top as Scott McLaughlin did a 183.515mph lap to displace Palou. Josef Newgarden then slotted into P2 on a 182.319mph.

Ed Carpenter Racing joined the party at the front as Rossi (182.513mph) and Rasmussen (182.189mph) went P2 and P4.

At the 20-minute mark, McLaughlin led Rossi, Newgarden, Rasmussen, Palou, Daly, Ericsson, Dixon, Power and Shwartzman.

Caution number two was thrown as Pato O’Ward lost it on pit exit coming out. The bumpy nature of pit in and out was causing problems for the drivers.

The yellows appeared again a few minutes later as Jacob Abel continued to be hampered by power issues, although he eventually managed to limp back to the pits.

Oval specialist Pato O’Ward joined the front runners as he leapt up to 3rd behind McLaughlin and Rossi.

With just over 10 minutes to go, the caution was out again as Christian Rasmussen got high and grazed the wall heading into turn 2. Fortunately for the Dane he could return to the pits.

Nolan Siegel almost joined Rasmussen when the action resumed as he lost the rear and got high, but he managed to avoid any contact with the wall. Late in the session, he moved up to 2nd as the McLaren driver got a qualifying simulation in.

McLaughlin, however, stayed fastest.