Benjamin Pedersen led opening practice for Indy Lights on Friday afternoon at Portland International Raceway.
The 22-year-old Danish-American put down a total of 20 laps around the 12-turn, 1.964-mile natural road course, with a session-best flying lap at 1m, 4.4820s (109.649 mph) in the No. 24 Global Racing Group with HMD Motorsports machine.
Championship leader Linus Lundqvist put his respective No. 26 HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing entry in the runner-up spot, just 0.0427s off the top time.
The lead Andretti Autosport driver was Matthew Brabham in third, followed by another HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing pilot with Christian Bogle in fourth.
Sting Ray Robb, piloting the No. 2 Andretti Autosport entry, was fifth.
Jacob Abel, Kyffin Simpson and Christian Rasmussen occupied sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively.
Flinn Lazier, son of 1996 Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Lazier, logged 31 laps and managed to come away with ninth in his first-ever practice session in Indy Lights. Daniel Frost claimed the final spot in the top 10.
There was a brief stoppage in the session involving Hunter McElrea. The Andretti Autosport pilot went into Turn 1 with too much pace and locked up before going into the run-off and hitting signage. He ended only posting 8 laps at session’s end and finished last (12th).
The red flag was out momentarily after this Turn 1 incident involving @HunterMcElrea at @portlandraceway.#RoadToIndy // @TeamCooperTire // @Portland_GP pic.twitter.com/xw3fMamDc4
— INDY NXT (@INDYNXT) September 2, 2022
Up Next: The second practice session of the weekend for Indy Lights will be Saturday at 2:15 p.m. ET, with live coverage on IndyCar Live! and the IndyCar Radio Network.
