Points leader Oliver Askew led the lone practice session in preparation for the Cooper Tires Indy Lights Oval Challenge of St. Louis. The Andretti Autosport rookie turned the fastest lap of 161.000 mph, over 1mph quicker than his teammate Robert Megennis.
Megennis, Rinus VeeKay, Toby Sowery, David Malukas, and Ryan Norman held down spots two through six and were separated by only 0.4mph.
With 25-minutes remaining in the 45-minutes session, the yellow flag came out for a track inspection.
Toby Sowery and David Malukas, with the newly renamed HMD Motorsports, held down the top two spots, followed by Rinus VeeKay, Oliver Askew and Robert Megennis.
With 15-minutes remaining, the top five had not changed.
At that point in the session, most drivers were in pit road for adjustment and a fresh set of Cooper Tire slicks.
The Andretti Autosport drivers were the first back out on the 1.25-mile oval, with Askew grabbing the top spot on the timing screen with seven minutes remaining.
The top four drivers at that point in the session were separated by only 0.05 seconds, equating to three-tenths of a mile per hour.
Sowery and Malukas waited to go out on the track, but could not improve on their times and were eventually surpassed by Megennis and VeeKay to end with the fourth and fifth quickest times.
The eight drivers turned a total of 360 laps in the 45-minute session. Megennis turned 59 laps the most of any driver.
Cooper Tires Indy Lights Oval Challenge of St. Louis practice #1 results
RANK | CAR NO. | DRIVER | FASTEST LAP (mph) | TOTAL LAPS |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 28 | Oliver Askew | 161.000 | 53 |
2 | 27 | Robert Megennis | 159.626 | 59 |
3 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay | 159.576 | 47 |
4 | 2 | Toby Sowery | 159.460 | 36 |
5 | 79 | David Malukas | 159.314 | 31 |
6 | 48 | Ryan Norman | 159.235 | 45 |
7 | 67 | Dalton Kellett | 157.930 | 40 |
8 | 5 | Lucas Kohl | 157.541 | 49 |
The top rung of the Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires will be back on track at 7:30 pm (central) for two-lap, single-car qualifying.