SONSIO GRAND PRIX AT ROAD AMERICA PRACTICE REPORT

NTT INDYCAR SERIES
Round 8
ELKHART LAKE’S ROAD AMERICA

Andretti Autosport’s foursome took turns topping the time charts in Practice One at Road America. The 4.048-mile, 14-turn course hosted an hour-long practice which saw speeds of nearly 137 mph. Alexander Rossi topped the time charts followed by Colton Herta in second. Devlin DeFrancesco finished the session 11th with Romain Grosjean behind him in 14th overall, after running in the top pack for most of the session. Tomorrow, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES hosts two practice sessions and qualifying.

Andretti Autosport completed the final practice session leading into the 106th Running of the Indianapolis 500 Presented by Gainbridge. Cloudy skies gave the teams cooler track temperatures as drivers and crews finalized race day setups. The No. 26 Gainbridge Honda got loose going into Turn 1, making contact with the wall. Colton Herta was released after being taken to medical following the incident. Andretti Autosport turns its attention to having the No. 26 ready to roll for race day. The Indianapolis 500 goes green Sunday, May 29 at 12:30 p.m. ET live on NBC.

COLTON HERTA
NO. 26 GAINBRIDGE HONDA

  • Colton Herta finished practice second with a lap time of 1:45.7361
  • Top Speed: 136.665 mph

“Overall, I’m happy with today. It was a long day of downtime before the practice, so it was good to finally get into the car this afternoon. It was nice to get in for a long session. The car felt good right from the beginning. We made some good changes; we made some bad changes and kind of found out what we liked and what we didn’t on both tire compounds. The Gainbridge Honda is fast going into tomorrow.”

ALEXANDER ROSSI
NO. 27 NAPA AUTO PARTS / AUTONATION HONDA

  • 2019 Race Winner Alexander Rossi was fastest in practice with a lap time of 1:45.6027
  • Top Speed: 136.837 mph

“Today was good. It was a bit weird to have the Firestone Alternate tires on Day One, so it will be interesting to see how that translates tomorrow. Obviously, the track evolution will continue to get better every session of the weekend, so we will have to see how that will translate from practice to qualifying. The No. 27 rolled off really strong, which is positive on these weekends when it’s so close and you’ve got to start from a good point. Hats off to the team and their effort.”

ROMAIN GROSJEAN
NO. 28 UNIFIRST/DHL HONDA

  • Romain Grosjean was cut short on his track time running Firestone Alternate Red tires due to the one red flag in the session
  • Top Speed: 135.500 mph

“Absolutely awesome to be back in Road America. I love the track. We had a really productive session. We didn’t get a lot done on the (Firestone) Reds; we got a red flag. But I think the UniFirst / DHL car is a pretty good car. The teammates seem to be fast as well, so we have a lot of data to look at. Definitely happy with how things went.”

DEVLIN DEFRANCESCO
NO. 29 POWERTAP HONDA
ANDRETTI STEINBRENNER AUTOSPORT

  • Devlin DeFrancesco finished the practice as the fastest rookie and led the field early in the session
  • Top Speed: 135.833 mph

“FP1 is in the books here at the Grand Prix of Road America. P11 for our No. 29 PowerTap Andretti Steinbrenner Honda. We seemed pretty strong today and still have some fine-tuning to do, but overall happy with our starting point.”