– For Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, the second practice could hardly have gone worse, but Mick Schumacher (RLL-Honda; 15th) remains the positive exception: While his teammates Graham Rahal (RLL-Honda; 25th) and Louis Foster (RLL-Honda; 24th) crashed, the German continues to be the team’s flagship in Washington D.C.
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Nevertheless, P15 (result of the 2nd Free Practice) is of course not a result to write home about. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has problems on the bumpy street circuit, but the track itself is also likely to cause discussions. Especially the braking point for turn 6 is currently a ramp where luck seems to play a very decisive role.
After Christian Lundgaard (McLaren-Chevrolet; 6th) in the first practice, the two RLL drivers crashed on the mega bump in the second practice. Will Power (Andretti-Honda; 13th) also had a near crash at this spot but somehow managed to save his Dallara.
“I’m only braking halfway and it’s like that every lap,” curses Rahal, whose session ended with the crash. “I didn’t drive the lap any differently than usual, but the rear axle locked up on the spot. There’s nothing you can do. There really is no room for error here.” Teammate Foster caused a second red flag but was able to continue.
This time Alex Palou (Ganassi-Honda; 1st) took the best time with a lap of 56.614 seconds. Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti-Honda; 2nd) was 0.077 seconds slower but set this time on hard tires. Scott Dixon (Ganassi-Honda; 3rd) made a small statement in his weakest IndyCar season so far, followed by the three McLarens.
It will be difficult for Schumacher in qualifying as he ended up in a tough group. At least: In the group phase of the second practice, he set the sixth-best time of the second group, which would secure him a place in Q2.
Qualifying starts at 11 p.m. CEST. (All info on the IndyCar race in Washington D.C.)
How the first Free Practice went
Mick Schumacher (RLL-Honda) started the IndyCar race weekend in Washington D.C. with 21st place in the first Free Practice. One should not read too much into the times yet because the session started on a rain-wet track. Schumacher was around tenth place for a long time but did not improve towards the end when the track was fastest. (Result)
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Nevertheless, he was the fastest driver from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, with his teammates Graham Rahal (23rd) and Louis Foster (25th) finishing behind him. More importantly, Schumacher showed speed throughout the session, was the best RLL driver in the standings for much of the session, and can reasonably hope to build on his performances from Markham.
The first indication shows that street course specialist Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti-Honda; 1st) has found his old form again. The championship runner-up repeatedly set best times and ended with the fastest lap in 57.374 seconds.
With points leader Alex Palou (Ganassi-Honda; 2nd), another usual suspect lined up at the front, while Dennis Hauger’s (Coyne-Honda) third place was a surprise. However, times are expected to improve significantly.
Christian Lundgaard (McLaren-Chevrolet; 11th) had the dubious honor of being the first driver of the unique race weekend, which celebrates the 250th anniversary of the United States of America, to crash into the wall. A broken control arm was quickly replaced.
Will Power (Andretti-Honda; 22nd) and Romain Grosjean (Coyne-Honda; 24th) also had to come to the pits for repairs after hitting the wall. Kirkwood also touched the wall, almost simultaneously with teammate Power, but got away unscathed and then set his series of best times.
On a commercial level, the race is already a success. The organizer reports over 288,000 ticket requests for 150,000 tickets. McLaren CEO and motorsport entrepreneur Zak Brown confirms: “This is a huge event for IndyCar on a commercial level. We already have great fans who love our racing, but this brings IndyCar closer to new fans. They will love it.”
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The second Free Practice starts at 7 p.m. CEST. The report will also follow in this article.
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