Hunter McElrea led the way in opening practice for Indy Lights at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Piloting the No. 27 Andretti Autosport entry, the 22-year-old set the mark by putting down a flying lap of 1m13.6126s (110.427 mph) at the 13-turn, 2.258-mile natural terrain road course.
It ended up being an Andretti Autosport 1-2 with Christian Rasmussen following his teammate, ending up a substantial 0.3063s behind McElrea. Coming away third was Kyffin Simpson in the No. 21 for TJ Speed Motorsports, who put down a total of 23 laps in the session and ended up 0.3553s off the top time.
Jacob Abel and Matthew Brabham rounded out the top five.
There were multiple incidents in the session, which began when James Roe brought out a local yellow flag after briefly going off in Turn 6. The Irishman was able to return the No. 12 TJ Speed Motorsports entry to pit lane.
The more notable incident happened when Abel’s No. 51 Abel Motorsports entry went off and plowed head-on into the tire barrier at the exit of Turn 1, which ultimately ended the session with a red flag.
.@jacobabelracing has been seen and released after this incident at @Mid_Ohio that ended the first practice sesssion.#RoadToIndy // @TeamCooperTire // @CooperTire pic.twitter.com/v3UVpH1i5s
— INDY NXT (@INDYNXT) July 1, 2022
Up Next: The second practice session is set for Saturday at 8:35 a.m. ET.
