Will Power led five Team Chevy drivers in top-nine of final order in combined practice one times
· Two-time and defending Barber winner Scott McLaughlin posted the eighth quickest time that included making a remarkable on-track save in turn 14
· With rain expected Saturday for practice two and qualifying, laps in today’s three-segment 64-minute practice was critical with race-day forecast conditions similar to those today
BIRMINGHAM, ALA (MAY 2, 2025) – Will Power showed the way for Chevrolet in today’s first practice session for the Children of Alabama INDY Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park.
The driver of the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet posted a fasted lap of one minute, 7.7869 seconds around the 2.3-mile, 17-turn natural terrain road course in preparation for Sunday’s 90-lap race.
Two-time and defending winner Scott McLaughlin, showed amazing car control during today’s session when the rear end of his No. 3 Good Ranchers Team Penske Chevrolet stepped out in turn-14 and McLaughlin managed to right the car, miss the wall and continue on his way.
YouTube link to McLaughlin’s impressive save
The 12 Chevrolet powered drivers will continue the quest for victory with practice two and qualifying on Saturday. Rain is the forecast giving teams a tougher task of determining the optimum set-up for Sunday’s race – round four of the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES schedule.
Combined Results of NTT INDYCAR SERIES Practice #1 at Barber Motorsports Park
Tune-In Alert
Saturday
· NTT INDYCAR SERIES Practice #2 – 11:30am (ET)/10:30am (CT)/9:30am (MT)/8:30am (PT) – FS1/INDYCAR Radio Network/SIRIUSXM 218
· NTT INDYCAR SERIES Qualifying – 1:30pm (ET)/12:30pm (CT)/11:30am (MT)/10:30am (PT) – FS1/INDYCAR Radio Network/SIRIUSXM 218
Sunday
· NTT INDYCAR SERIES Warm Up – 10am (ET)/9am (CT)/8am (MT)/7am (PT) – FS1/INDYCAR Radio Network/SIRIUSXM 218
· Children’s Of Alabama Indy Grand Prix (90 laps) – 1:30pm (ET)/12:30pm (CT)/11:30am (MT)/10:30am (PT) – FOX/INDYCAR Radio Network/SIRIUSXM 218
What They’re Saying:
ARROW MCLAREN
Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:
“I love Barber. It’s high commitment and obviously a stunning facility. I have a lot of good memories coming back here. We tested here a couple of weeks ago, but today was a bit different. We’re just working through that but I think we’ll be alright. We just need to look at things and go again tomorrow.”
Nolan Siegel, No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:
“We had a smooth Practice 1. Everything went to plan, but I think we’re still missing a little bit. We made a lot of changes and learned a bit but didn’t quite fix the problems we needed to fix. We’ll go to work tomorrow morning, and I know we have a bit more pace to find to be up there with the front-runners.”
Christian Lundgaard, No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:
“It’s great to be back on track here at Barber. The car feels good but we still have a bit of work to do, so we’ll work overnight to get in the right window and come out tomorrow ready to fight for pole.”
JUNCOS-HOLLINGER RACING
Conor Daly, No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet
“It was quite a good start for us. We were one of the only teams that didn’t test here, so just trying to catch up a little. The car was very interesting, from the alternate to the primary tire. We know we need for tomorrow. Times are close. It was a decent start for our first time together as a group.”
Sting Ray Robb, No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet
“Practice one was OK. The difference in tires was quite shocking from Blacks to Reds. Other than that, it was a pretty smooth session. We learned a lot, and it will all go out the window when it rains tomorrow. When it comes back to dry on Sunday, we’ll have a good package. Conor and I are working well together and we like the same stuff, so we know what direction we want to go.”
TEAM PENSKE
Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Good Ranchers Team Penske Chevrolet:
Q: What do you love about Barber (Motorsports Park)
McLaughlin: “There is a lot of commitment. That’s what I really enjoy. It reminds me of a track back home in Australia, Philip Island, which is a track that I always went really well at in the
Supercar as well. So, hopefully we can keep that trend going. The wins have been great, but it’s going to be a bit more inconsistent than we probably have seen this weekend with the rain.”
Q: Do the difficult areas change, or are they magnified with the rain?
McLaughlin: “Yeah. The high commitment corners get more higher commitment in the rain. You have to try to find the grip or the rubber or get off the rubber as quick as you can. There’s a lot of good drivers in the series that are good on the rain. Qualifying will be just as competitive, regardless if it’s wet or dry. So it’s just a matter of you putting them together yourself”.
Q: The “Month of May” is coming up, is hard to keep the focus when you come to a track like this race because it pays an equal amount of points as the Indianapolis 500?
McLaughlin: “It’s a nice feeling to hopefully start our month off on the right foot and get the momentum going. Because momentums everything in this series, and if you can roll into the biggest race of the year with some momentum, that’s always a good thing. I feel really, really, really strong, you know, for the month. I had a great open test. It’s probably the strongest I’ve I’ve felt, ever. So that was a really good feeling. So, it’s just a matter of putting it together and see where we’re at.”
Q: Has the Hybrid changed a place like Barber Motorsports Park?
McLaughlin: “Oh, for sure. We tested here not long ago, and it was definitely a lot different. A lot more different than I thought it was going to be. The feeling and weight will be interesting, as well as how we all tackle it and the different philosophies between cars. Let’s see where we go.”
Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet:
“This is one of the nicest places that we come to. The promoters do a really great job of presenting this place. You drive in here, and you know you are at a special event. The car has a really good balance; needing just minor changes. It could be a mixed-up session (qualifying) with the weather, but we’ll see how it goes. If we can qualify in the top six, we’ll have a shot at a podium. In the top four, we’ll have a shot at a win. That’s what I’ve struggled with this year (qualifying).”
Pato O’Ward
Press Conference
THE MODERATOR: Joined by Pato O’Ward, driver of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Fourth quick in group two this afternoon. Of course, he is the 2022 winner here at Barber Motorsports Park. Currently 6th in the overall championship. How would you describe, Pato, your start to the weekend here?
PATO O’WARD: I love Barber. I love this place. It’s high commitment. It’s obviously a stunning facility. I have a lot of good memories to remember whenever I come back here, but today has been — we tested here a couple of weeks ago, and today has definitely been a little bit different.
So we’re just looking through that, but I think it’s all right. Just little clean-ups that we have to do here and there. Nothing. We’ll get it right where we need to.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for Pato O’Ward.
Q. Pato, you just said a minute ago you tested here, and now it’s different. Is it maybe weather-related? Was it cooler when you were testing here?
PATO O’WARD: It’s a little bit warmer, more humid right now. The wind has changed a bit. That will obviously have an influence of what the car is doing. Especially with such you high-speed corners. We also didn’t get to try the alternate, and I would say that’s the one that was kind of like, What?
So, yeah, we just really need to dig into the data from all three cars really and just get a better read on that, I would say. But, yeah, nothing too crazy. Not yet at least.
Q. With the weather so uncertain, does that really affect the way you prepare, or are you one of those that just it happens as it happens, and you get out there?
PATO O’WARD: I kind of just go with the flow. We are expecting rain tomorrow, but it’s obviously under no one’s control beside Mother Nature. It can say that it’s going to be maybe crazy, and then it decides to kind of clean up a little bit or maybe a window opens up in qualifying where half of it’s going to be dry and half of it not. It doesn’t look like that, but you can’t count any of that out.
So we’re just going on with our program. Tomorrow obviously if it rains, it’s going to change things a lot, but for everyone. So it’s the same for everybody. We just need to stay on top of it and really just kind of know what we need from — or at least I need to know what I need from the car in order to get it done in qualifying.
Q. Pato, back to the red tires this weekend after running the greens at St. Pete and Long Beach. After running the greens for so many years, is there a massive difference in how the side walls and all that feel still?
PATO O’WARD: You can definitely tell. It’s a different feeling, but sometimes it always seems to have the same balance shift from primes to reds or a little bit more consistent. Today I would say was a little bit of a different story. That’s just what I kind of — I just couldn’t wrap my head around it and understand.
It just starts doing all sorts of things, and you are, like, What do we need to fix? It’s like, Well, sadly everything. Yeah, that requires a lot of data analyzing by the engineers and us to really see what problems do we want to prioritize?
I mean, to be fair, sometimes one set will do that, and then the next one is like, Wow, it’s half a second quicker. So I have no idea.
Q. How important is it to compartmentalize the month of May because here we are kicking it off at Barber and then next week it’s going to be the INDYCAR Grand Prix at IMS, and then we roll into the Indy 500. Then after that it’s off to Detroit. So a lot is going to happen in a hurry. How important is it for you to pace yourself through this whole month and focus on each task at hand?
PATO O’WARD: Learn how to say no, I would say. If the five years or six now — this is my sixth year here. I can’t believe it, but if the six years that I’ve been here have taught me something, it’s learn how to say no and don’t feel bad about it, because you’re the one driving the car. If someone is asking something, say, Do you want me to win the race or not?
Q. (Off microphone)
PATO O’WARD: Everybody wants a piece of you at the end of the day, and they want you here and here and bah, bah, bah. Ultimately, why are we doing this? We do this to win races. We do this because we want to win the Indy 500. That’s the most important one on the calendar. I mean, I guarantee you they will forgive you if you win that race (laughing).
Q. Just curious, you are talking about how much fun Barber is for you. I’m curious, is it as much fun with the hybrid and the extra weight, or are you not able to hustle the car as much now?
PATO O’WARD: No, it’s less fun. The cars have gotten a lot more boring, to be honest. This is one of the tracks where you would really enjoy being able to throw it around.
You can still kind of do it, but the windows narrow down a lot. You can piss it off a lot quicker. So, yeah, you definitely feel the added weight. The tires feel the added weight. It’s definitely something you have to change quite a bit on the car in order to kind of get it back into the window because it’s definitely shifted a lot of the balance.
Q. The reds versus the blacks debate… Ericsson ended up going fastest overall on the blacks. Colton said when he came in here, he didn’t feel like one was necessarily over the other. I know you’re a little lacking on data yourself.
PATO O’WARD: Ericsson blacks? 67 something? Oh, he was on reds.
Q. Right at the end. Yeah, for a while, though, it looked like he was going — the black lap was even still going to be fastest. How do you feel overall on the debate? Do you feel like one is going to be better than the other going into qualifying and race?
PATO O’WARD: I mean, I think the red is going to be quicker. I don’t know what the delta — the delta doesn’t really seem that big or as big as I thought because I think Firestone told us the prime is more durable. The red is the 23 red, I believe, so there should be a pretty significant gap in terms of performance, but I don’t think we saw that big of a gap as we were expecting. At least I didn’t see as big of a difference.
So, yeah, I don’t know. Surprise, surprise I guess. I think tomorrow is going to be rain tire. It’s going to be on pole, so…
THE MODERATOR: We’ll see how good everybody is in the rain tomorrow perhaps. Knock on wood. You never know. Thanks for coming, Pato.
GM PR
