IndyCar Gateway practice session topped by Pato O'Ward

Pato O’Ward turned a 181.532 mph lap Friday to lead the lone practice session of the weekend for the NTT IndyCar Series at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

The Arrow McLaren SP No. 5 Dallara-Chevrolet driver, who was named the 104th Indy 500’s rookie of the year after finishing sixth this past Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, topped the speed chart for the 90-minute session ahead of Will Power (180.961), points leader Scott Dixon (180.822), Conor Daly (180.581) and Takuma Sato (180.434).

PRACTICE SPEEDS: Who was fast Friday at Gateway

WEEKEND SCHEDULE: When IndyCar is on track at Gateway

“We put a lot of very valuable work into that session,” O’Ward said in a team relesae. “We did everything we wanted to do to prepare for tomorrow’s qualifying and race. There’s so many little things that go into it that make a perfect race, so we want to make the best out of it.

“This Arrow McLaren SP crew gave us some really strong cars to roll out with and I think it was just fine tuning from there. I ended the day really happy, and I think we will be ready for qualifying tomorrow.”

There were no incidents in the practice

After winning the Indianapolis 500 for the second time, Sato enters the Saturday-Sunday doubleheader weekend at Gateway as the defending winner of last year’s race.

ENTRY LISTS: Who is racing Saturday and Sunday at Gateway

Next up is qualifying at noon ET Saturday (available on NBC Sports Gold), which will set the field for both races. The first lap determines the starting order for Saturday and the second lap sets Sunday’s lineup.

Race coverage will begin Saturday and Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN (here are the streaming links for Saturday’s race and Sunday’s race).

The rest of the top 10 in practice: Jack Harvey, Alex Palou, Marcus Ericsson, Rinus VeeKay and Colton Herta.

Click here for the full practice report from Friday at Gateway.

.@PatricioOWard posts the fastest lap speed in practice.

Qualifying is live at 11AM ET from @WWTRaceway Saturday on @NBCSportsGold: https://t.co/PqVUeFoq4g pic.twitter.com/Cy2vJ1qPwt

— IndyCar on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) August 28, 2020

DETROIT — Alex Palou topped the results of an NTT IndyCar Series race for the second time this season, extending his championship points lead with his victory in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver, who also won the GMR Grand Prix (and the Indy 500 pole position) last month, holds a 51-point lead over teammate Marcus Ericsson (ninth at Detroit) through seven of 17 races this season.

Ganassi, which placed all four of its drivers in the top 10 at Detroit, has three of the top four in the championship standings with Scott Dixon ranked fourth after a fourth at Detroit.

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Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden is third in the standings after taking a 10th at Detroit. Pato O’Ward slipped to fifth in the points after crashing and finishing 26th

Here are the IndyCar results and points standings after the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix:

RESULTS

Click here for the official box score from the 100-lap race on a nine-turn, 1.645-mile street course in downtown Detroit.

Here is the finishing order in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix with starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (1) Alex Palou, Honda, 100, Running
2. (7) Will Power, Chevrolet, 100, Running
3. (9) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 100, Running
4. (4) Scott Dixon, Honda, 100, Running
5. (13) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 100, Running
6. (12) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 100, Running
7. (2) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 100, Running
8. (11) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 100, Running
9. (6) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 100, Running
10. (5) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 100, Running
11. (24) Colton Herta, Honda, 100, Running
12. (17) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 100, Running
13. (8) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, 100, Running
14. (20) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 100, Running
15. (15) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 100, Running
16. (18) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 100, Running
17. (25) Jack Harvey, Honda, 100, Running
18. (14) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 100, Running
19. (23) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 100, Running
20. (19) Benjamin Pedersen, Chevrolet, 97, Running
21. (22) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 97, Running
22. (26) Sting Ray Robb, Honda, 97, Running
23. (21) David Malukas, Honda, 85, Contact
24. (3) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 80, Contact
25. (27) Graham Rahal, Honda, 50, Contact
26. (10) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 41, Contact
27. (16) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 1, Contact

Winner’s average speed: 80.922 mph; Time of Race: 02:01:58.1171; Margin of victory: 1.1843 seconds; Cautions: 7 for 32 laps; Lead changes: 10 among seven drivers. Lap Leaders: Palou 1-28; Power 29-33; O’Ward 34; Palou 35-55; Power 56-64; Palou 65; Rossi 66; Newgarden 67-68; Kirkwood 69; Ericsson 70-76; Palou 77-100.

POINTS

Click here for the points tally in the race.

Here are the points standings after the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix:

Top 10 in points: Palou 273, Ericsson 222, Newgarden 203, Dixon 194, O’Ward 191, Rossi 176, McLaughlin 175, Power 172, Herta 149, Rosenqvist 148.

Rest of the standings: Grosjean 145, Kirkwood 142, Lundgaard 136, Ilott 116, VeeKay 108, Ferrucci 105, Armstrong 101, Rahal 99, Malukas 91, Daly 88, DeFrancesco 81, Castroneves 80, Harvey 78, Canapino 77, Pagenaud 72, Pedersen 61, Robb 55, Takuma Sato 37, Ed Carpenter 27, Ryan Hunter-Reay 20, Tony Kanaan 18, Marco Andretti 13, RC Enerson 5, Katherine Legge 5.

Next race: IndyCar will head to Road America for the Sonsio Grand Prix, which will take place June 18 with coverage starting at 1 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.

Pato O’Ward tops IndyCar practice at Gateway; Will Power second fastest

IndyCar results, points after Detroit Grand Prix