Rinus VeeKay and Romain Grosjean showed the deep level of competition in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES by ending up 1-2 in the pre-qualifying practice Saturday for the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst at Barber Motorsports Park.
VeeKay and Grosjean don’t drive for one of the “Big Four” teams in the series – Chip Ganassi Racing, Team Penske, Andretti Global or Arrow McLaren – but their crews found the hot setups for speed, and their drivers delivered.
SEE: Practice Results
Dutchman VeeKay led with a quick lap of 1 minute, 6.5463 seconds in the No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet. That was the best lap of the event so far and nearly a second quicker than VeeKay’s top lap of 1:07.4780 in practice Friday, good for 14th in the 27-car field.
The improvement shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. The 17-turn, 2.3-mile natural road course at Barber is one of VeeKay’s favorite circuits in the series, and he won the NTT P1 Award for this race in 2022 en route to finishing third in the race.
“We made some changes overnight that we thought was the right direction, and it was the right direction,” VeeKay said. “I’m excited for qualifying. It’s usually a very good sign when you’re fast in Practice 2.”
NTT P1 Award qualifying starts at 3:30 p.m. ET, with live coverage on Peacock, INDYCAR LIVE and the INDYCAR Radio Network. Live coverage of the 90-lap race starts at 1 p.m. ET Sunday on NBC, Peacock, INDYCAR LIVE and the INDYCAR Radio Network.
Expect a tight race for the pole and starting grid spots, as only .7336 of a second separated the top 20 drivers in the 27-car field in this session.
Grosjean won the NTT P1 Award and finished second last year at this race while driving for Andretti Global. He moved to Juncos Hollinger Racing this season but still has plenty of pace on this circuit, ending up second today at 1:06.5819 in the team’s No. 77 Chevrolet.
Scott McLaughlin jumped from ninth Friday to third Saturday with a lap of 1:06.6099 in the No. 3 Good Ranchers Team Penske Chevrolet.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan grabbed the final two spots in the top five of the one-hour session. Graham Rahal was fourth at 1:06.6588 in the No. 15 Hendrickson Honda, followed by teammate Christian Lundgaard at 1:06.6973 in the No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda.
Two-time series champion Josef Newgarden, quickest in Friday’s practice, dropped to ninth at 1:06.8082 in the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet.
A handful of teams will look to sort mechanical gremlins that emerged during the session.
Pietro Fittipaldi ended up in the gravel trap in Turn 2 after a steering problem in the No. 30 Mi-Jack Honda fielded by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Two-time series champion Will Power reported a shifting problem in his No. 12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet, and Felix Rosenqvist parked his No. 60 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda fielded by Meyer Shank Racing with a few minutes remaining in the session due to an apparent engine problem.