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Lundqvist leads HMD 1-2 in Indy Lights practice

by Bethonie Waring

Photo: Walt Kuhn

Linus Lundqvist set the pace in the opening Indy Lights free practice session at Road America.

The championship leader only completed a handful of laps the Friday session, as tyre conservation led to most of the field limiting their running. The four laps he did complete were more than enough to put him top of the order by 0.2 seconds.

Lundqvist didn’t head out on track until the session’s second half, and his opening lap put him third quickest, behind early pacesetter Jacob Abel and Christian Bogle.

It wasn’t long before he jumped to the top of the order though, with a 1m55.3852s lap putting him clear of the rest of the field. Benjamin Pedersen managed a laptime just 0.005s off Lundqvist’s pace, but couldn’t top the timing screen.

Lundqvist then improved again to lower the benchmark to 1m55.0306s.

Danial Frost beat Pedersen to second place with a laptime 0.1452s faster than Pedersen to give HMD Motorsports a one-two.

Christian Rasmussen was the quickest Andretti run driver in fourth, and his team-mates Hunter McElrea, Sting Ray Robb and Matthew Brabham were fifth, sixth and seventh.

Abel dropped down to eighth by the chequered flag, while Antonio Serravalle and Bogle rounded out the top 10.

Despite completing more laps than the majority of drivers, TJ Speed duo James Roe Jr and Kyffin Simpson propped up the order.

Free practice results
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Linus Lunqvist HMD Motorsports 1m55.0306s 4
2 Danial Frost HMD Motorsports 1m55.2449s +0.2143s 4
3 Benjamin Pedersen Global Racing Group w/ HMD 1m55.3901s +0.3595s 4
4 Christian Rasmussen Andretti Autosport 1m55.4179s +0.3873s 6
5 Hunter McElrea Andretti Autosport 1m55.4354s +0.4048s 4
6 Sting Ray Robb Andretti Autosport 1m55.4526s +0.4220s 4
7 Matthew Brabham Andretti Autosport 1m55.8546s +0.8240s 4
8 Jacob Abel Abel Motorsports 1m56.1455s +1.1149s 5
9 Antonio Serravalle HMD Motorsports 1m56.3465s +1.3159s 7
10 Christian Bogle HMD Motorsports 1m56.3544s +1.3238s 8
11 Ernie Francis Jr Force Indy 1m56.5738s +1.5432s 9
12 James Roe Jr TJ Speed 1m57.5025s +2.4719s 8
13 Kyffin Simpson TJ Speed 1m57.8424s +2.8118s 7