Alex Palou Stays Quickest in Second Sonsio Grand Prix Practice

It’s Alex Palou’s world at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the rest of us are just living in it.

Four-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Palou (photo, top) continued his dominance of the IMS road course Friday afternoon by leading the second practice for the Sonsio Grand Prix after pacing the opening session this morning. Palou was quickest in the second practice at 1 minute 10.4507 seconds in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, slower than his leading lap of 1:10.0904 this morning.

SEE: Second Practice Results

The next step in Palou’s plan for weekend domination will come in NTT P1 Award qualifying at 5:30 p.m. ET today (FS2, FOX One, INDYCAR Radio by OnlyBulls). Palou has won this race on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course the last three years, including the last two years from the pole.

Rain is moving into the Indianapolis area this afternoon, which could throw a curveball into qualifying for drivers and teams.

Kyle Kirkwood was second in this practice at 1:10.5574 in the No. 27 JM Bullion/Gold.com Honda of Andretti Global. Kirkwood is the only driver within one race worth of points of Palou in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES standings, 17 points behind the Spaniard.

Louis Foster led a strong session for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, third at 1:10.7182 in the No. 45 Desnuda Organic Tequila Honda. His teammate Mick Schumacher (photo, above) was seventh at 1:10.7904 in the No. 47 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda with his lap that led the second practice group of 12 drivers.

Christian Lundgaard, who won the pole for this event in 2023 with Rahal Letterman Lanigan, was fourth overall in this session at 1:10.7370 in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. 2022 Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson rounded out the top five at 1:10.7396 in the No. 28 Allegra Honda of Andretti Global.