Power leads tire-saving Long Beach GP Friday practice

Tire conservation was the focus for many teams at the start of Friday’s lone IndyCar Series practice session on the streets of Long Beach. With five sets of the more durable primary Firestones—one less than in 2024—and five sets of the short-life alternates, the popular call was to sit and limit running on the prized primaries to ensure there are enough new or low-mileage sets for Sunday’s 90-lap race.

Perfect conditions met the field with temperatures in the 70s and blue skies, and after the three-layered session structure was complete, it was Team Penske’s Will Power’s 01m07.3227s lap in the No. 12 Chevy that led the day.

Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson was fastest in his group and was second-best with a 1m07.3503s in the No. 28 Honda.

“We just have a really good setup in general to work with, and the team does a really good job preparing the cars and giving us drivers cars that we feel confidence in to drive because that’s — street course racing is so much about that confidence. It’s being close to those walls and having the confidence to push to the limit,” Ericsson said.

Andretti teammate Kyle Kirkwood was third (1m07.3523s), the Meyer Shank Racing duo of Marcus Armstrong (1m07.3602s) and Felix Rosenqvist (1m07.3875s) were fourth and fifth, respectively, and Penske’s Josef Newgarden completed the top six (1m07.5191s). Other than a spin and prolonged 47-point turn for Louis Foster and a meeting with the wall that kept Pato O’Ward from turning more than a handful of laps, the sessions were clean.

Fifteen minutes into the session and only 15 of the 27 drivers had made an attempt to set a competitive lap. Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Sting Ray Robb was the fastest at the point with a best tour of 1m10.443s.

After 20 minutes, Penske’s Power brought the speeds up to a more familiar place with a 1m08.0582s lap. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou was next to take the top spot after 25 minutes had gone by, edging Power with a 1m13.9340s. O’Ward hit the wall with his left-rear corner after completing just five laps, and with the time needed to affect repairs, he lost most of the day.

Palou kept improving and by 30 minutes in, his best was a 1m07.6364s lap, just ahead of Penske’s Newgarden with a 1m07.7858s.

After 44 minutes, Palou and Newgarden remained up top and had Penske’s Scott McLaughlin and Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist behind them in third and fourth. In the final minute as some drivers put on the alternates to close the full-field session, Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard vaulted to second with a 1m07.7108s; teammate Nolan Siegel, also on the faster alternates, motored to fourth with a 1m07.8607s.

In the first split 10-minute session, Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson was quickest with a 1m07.3503s in the No. 28 Honda, and in the second, Penske’s Power was fastest with a 01m07.3227s to take P1 for Friday.