VeeKay lapped the lush, undulating 2.38-mile course in Birmingham, AL, in 65.6148sec to edge Colton Herta’s Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport by 0.1236sec.
In a test where the top 15 cars unofficially broke the qualifying lap record of 66.6001sec held by Sebastien Bourdais since 2016, Arrow McLaren SP’s Patricio O’Ward was third fastest on a 65.9, one tenth faster than Alexander Rossi of Andretti Autosport and Jack Harvey of Meyer Shank Racing.
In his first test for Chip Ganassi Racing, 2020 rookie Alex Palou was 11th, just a tenth slower than the team’s pacesetter on the day, Marcus Ericsson, while the driver he replaced Felix Rosenqvist, turned a 66.5, around 0.6sec off Arrow McLaren SP teammate O’Ward.
Reigning Formula E champion and two-time Macau Grand Prix winner Antonio Felix da Costa, got his first taste of IndyCar, as sole representative for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. The Portuguese 29-year-old performed well, turning more laps (75) than anyone bar Ericsson and NASCAR star Jimmie Johnson, and with 12th fastest time, he shaded all four Team Penske-Chevrolet drivers.
Scott McLaughlin was 1.3sec off the ultimate pace, but only 0.5sec slower than Penske pacesetter on the day, Josef Newgarden, suggesting the squad was running a different program.
Johnson turned 100 laps and got within 2.8sec of fastest time, and only 1.3sec from next slowest.
Several teams will reconvene at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on Nov. 10 for the final team test of the year.
| RANK | CAR NO | DRIVER | TEAM | ENGINE | FAST LAP | DIFF | LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay | Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevy | 1:05.6148 | -.—- | 65 |
| 2 | 88 | Colton Herta | Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport | Honda | 1:05.7384 | 0.1236 | 74 |
| 3 | 5 | Pato O'Ward | Arrow McLaren SP | Chevy | 1:05.9059 | 0.2911 | 66 |
| 4 | 27 | Alexander Rossi | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 1:06.0179 | 0.4031 | 56 |
| 5 | 60 | Jack Harvey | Meyer Shank Racing | Honda | 1:06.0993 | 0.4845 | 45 |
| 6 | 20 | Conor Daly | Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevy | 1:06.1341 | 0.5193 | 62 |
| 7 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 1:06.1901 | 0.5753 | 54 |
| 8 | 8 | Marcus Ericsson | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 1:06.2568 | 0.6420 | 86 |
| 9 | 9 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 1:06.2579 | 0.6431 | 61 |
| 10 | 14 | Sebastien Bourdais | AJ Foyt Enterprises | Chevy | 1:06.3578 | 0.7430 | 61 |
| 11 | 10 | Alex Palou | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 1:06.3646 | 0.7498 | 74 |
| 12 | 15 | Antonio Felix da Costa | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda | 1:06.3754 | 0.7606 | 75 |
| 13 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | Chevy | 1:06.4103 | 0.7955 | 59 |
| 14 | 26 | James Hinchcliffe | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 1:06.4412 | 0.8264 | 64 |
| 15 | 7 | Felix Rosenqvist | Arrow McLaren SP | Chevy | 1:06.5011 | 0.8863 | 53 |
| 16 | 12 | Will Power | Team Penske | Chevy | 1:06.6195 | 1.0047 | 62 |
| 17 | 22 | Simon Pagenaud | Team Penske | Chevy | 1:06.6347 | 1.0199 | 61 |
| 18 | 4 | Dalton Kellett | AJ Foyt Enterprises | Chevy | 1:06.6471 | 1.0323 | 70 |
| 19 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin | Team Penske | Chevy | 1:06.9409 | 1.3261 | 73 |
| 20 | 98 | Marco Andretti | Andretti Herta with Marco & Curb-Agajanian | Honda | 1:07.0890 | 1.4742 | 64 |
| 21 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 1:08.3984 | 2.7836 | 100 |