Scott McLaughlin has yet to race at Iowa Speedway, but got acclimated quickly enough to pace Monday’s test ahead of next month’s doubleheader (July 23-24).
The 29-year-old New Zealander and NTT IndyCar Series sophomore logged a total of 220 laps, with his No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet hitting a best of 173.616 mph (18.5375s) around the 0.894-mile oval.
Will Power, who put down a session-most 282 laps in the No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet, ended up second by a narrow 0.0146s off his teammate’s time. Uniquely, McLaughlin’s time was set just four laps into his running, while Power’s runner-up flyer came 205 laps into his respective run.
The No. 51 Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing Honda of Takuma Sato ended up third, just 0.0602s off the pace. Rookie Christian Lundgaard’s No. 30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda was directly behind the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner in fourth.
Josef Newgarden, a three-time winner at Iowa, ended up fifth to cement all three Team Penske entries into the top five.
Pato O’Ward’s No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet was sixth, ahead of the No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of Marcus Ericsson in seventh. Graham Rahal, who put down a session-lowest 57 laps, Helio Castroneves and Scott Dixon rounded out the rest of the top 10.
There was a total of 2,565 laps logged among the 19 drivers. Beyond Rahal, the only drivers to not hit the century mark were rookies Callum Ilott (70) and David Malukas (71), along with AJ Foyt Racing veteran Dalton Kellett (80).
All times unofficial
1. Scott McLaughlin, 18.5375 (220 laps)
2. Will Power, 18.5521 (282 laps)
3. Takuma Sato, 18.5977 (125 laps)
4. Christian Lundgaard, 18.7022 (136 laps)
5. Josef Newgarden, 18.7116 (211 laps)
6. Pato O’Ward, 18.8194 (153 laps)
7. Marcus Ericsson, 18.8300 (179 laps)
8. Graham Rahal, 18.8405 (57 laps)
9. Helio Castroneves, 18.8659 (110 laps)
10. Scott Dixon, 18.8797 (100 laps)
11. Jack Harvey, 18.8905 (112 laps)
12. David Malukas, 18.8907 (71 laps)
13. Jimmie Johnson, 19.0424 (137 laps)
14. Alex Palou, 19.0473 (146 laps)
15. Simon Pagenaud, 19.0799 (104 laps)
16. Callum Ilott, 19.2056 (70 laps)
17. Felix Rosenqvist, 19.2492 (150 laps)
18. Kyle Kirkwood, 19.3122 (122 laps)
19. Dalton Kellett, 19.5628 (80 laps)
