By Steve Wittich
Juncos Racing rookie Rasmus Lindh was the quickest of the 14 Indy Pro 2000 drivers to take part in the first official practice on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course. A last-second lap at 80.489 seconds pushed the Swedish driver to the top of the timesheet.
RP Motorsport, who won on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course with Harrison Scott last year had their drivers turn in the second and third quickest times. Newcomer Ian Rodriguez led most of the session before settling for the second fastest lap. Kyle Kirkwood ended the session with the third fastest time, less than a tenth behind his teammate.
Phillippe Denes (Fatboy Racing!) and Sting Ray Robb (Juncos Racing) were the other drivers in the top five.
Only the top-six drivers were within one-second of the Swede.
Of note was championship leader Parker Thompson who turned the seventh quickest lap, over a second behind Lindh.
The Exclusive Autosport duo of Danial Frost and Nikita Lastochkin were unable to turn any laps in the 30-minute session. When we checked with the team, we were told that they were experiencing “technical issues.”
The dozen drivers that turned laps completed a total of 170 circuits of the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course.
Lindh’s lap was not the quickest of the day though; his Juncos Racing teammate Robb turned a lap at 80.279 seconds during the second of two 50-minute test sessions earlier in the day.
Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix of Indianapolis Presented by Cooper Tires Practice #1 Results
RANK |
CAR NO. |
DRIVER |
TEAM |
QUICK LAP |
DIFFERENCE |
TOTAL LAPS |
1 |
10 |
Rasmus Lindh |
Juncos Racing |
1:20.489 |
–.—- |
14 |
2 |
5 |
Ian Rodriguez |
RP Motorsport Racing |
1:20.761 |
0.2712 |
14 |
3 |
28 |
Kyle Kirkwood |
RP Motorsport Racing |
1:20.822 |
0.3328 |
15 |
4 |
98 |
Phillippe Denes |
FatBoy Racing |
1:21.011 |
0.5221 |
15 |
5 |
2 |
Sting Ray Robb |
Juncos Racing |
1:21.210 |
0.7206 |
16 |
6 |
7 |
Kory Enders |
DEForce Racing |
1:21.546 |
1.0561 |
9 |
7 |
8 |
Parker Thompson |
Abel Motorsports |
1:21.644 |
1.1550 |
16 |
8 |
11 |
Antonio Serravalle |
Pserra Racing/Jay Howard Driver Development |
1:21.684 |
1.1951 |
13 |
9 |
51 |
Jacob Abel |
Abel Motorsports |
1:21.755 |
1.2660 |
15 |
10 |
6 |
Moises de la Vara |
DEForce Racing |
1:21.761 |
1.2719 |
16 |
11 |
9 |
Jacob Loomis |
JDL Racing |
1:21.929 |
1.4399 |
12 |
12 |
83 |
Charles Finelli |
FatBoy Racing |
1:23.516 |
3.0265 |
15 |
13 |
68 |
Danial Frost |
Exclusive Autosport |
No Time |
— |
— |
14 |
90 |
Nikita Lastochkin |
Exclusive Autosport |
No Time |
— |
— |
Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires drivers will have a busy Friday. They qualify at 8:35 am and 11:30 am, and the first race gets the green flag at 3:40 am.