Marcus Armstrong turned Road America’s opening IndyCar practice into a Meyer Shank Racing statement, topping Friday’s session despite fighting flu symptoms.
Armstrong set a 1m44.2714s lap in the No. 66 Honda, with team-mate and Indianapolis 500 winner Felix Rosenqvist second on a 1m44.3501s as Meyer Shank locked out the top two. According to IndyCar’s official practice report, Armstrong said the car felt strong on both primary and alternate tyres, even while admitting he felt “as sick as a dog”.
Palou stays close as Road America pressure rises
Alex Palou was still right where he needed to be. The championship leader, whose Road America record shot already framed this weekend as a major title moment, ended up third with a 1m44.3659s in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
That kept Palou within a tenth of Armstrong and ahead of Arrow McLaren pair Pato O’Ward and Nolan Siegel, a useful early marker after Arrow McLaren arrived at Road America needing to turn its road-course pace into real pressure on the points leader.
The more awkward note came from Kyle Kirkwood. The Andretti driver is the only driver within a race win of Palou in the standings, but he opened the weekend 15th, 0.7618s off Armstrong’s benchmark. On a circuit where qualifying can quickly decide whether a driver is attacking or surviving, that is not a harmless Friday footnote.
Caio Collet and Mick Schumacher also put rookie speed inside the top 10, while Sting Ray Robb brought out the session’s red flag with a Turn 14 crash. For a weekend already shaped by IndyCar’s hybrid reliability questions, Armstrong’s lap gave Road America a sharper first twist than Palou’s rivals might have wanted.
