Alex Palou posted the fastest time in the opening practice session for the OnlyBulls Grand Prix of Portland. Surprisingly, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver did not set his best time on the soft tire, but earlier in the session on the hard compound. Kyle Kirkwood set the fastest lap of the day on the soft tire to finish second overall, ahead of a surprising Rinus VeeKay in third.

After nearly two weekends off, the final push of the 2026 IndyCar Series championship began Friday with the first of six races in five weekends.

Palou strong on the hard tires

Ahead of the race weekend at Portland International Raceway, Chip Ganassi Racing and Juncos Hollinger Racing were the only teams to have tested at the circuit. That experience was evident early in the session, with Kyffin Simpson leading the opening stages before teammate Alex Palou went nearly four-tenths of a second faster with 17 minutes remaining in the combined portion of the session.

Palou would finish the combined session, in which all drivers ran on the hard tires, at the top of the timesheets ahead of Simpson, Rinus VeeKay and Scott Dixon.

Kirkwood tops the soft-tire times

After the combined portion of the session, the field was split into two groups, with Kyle Kirkwood setting the fastest time in the first group, ahead of VeeKay, Will Power and Foster. However, Kirkwood's time on the soft tires was still slower than Palou's best lap on the hard tires from the combined portion of the session.

In the second group, Palou remained in the pits for much of the session before heading out with just a few minutes remaining. The championship leader initially put his DHL-sponsored car at the top of the timesheets, but Malukas then edged ahead by a fraction of a second. On his second lap, Palou moved back to the top, but surprisingly was still four-tenths of a second slower than his best time from the combined session, which he had set on the hard tire.

That hard-tire lap nevertheless made Palou the fastest driver of the day, ahead of the fastest driver on the soft tire, Kyle Kirkwood, and Rinus VeeKay in third.

Several drivers encounter problems

A surprising number of drivers encountered problems during the session. Both Marcus Armstrong and Pato O'Ward hit the wall hard on the inside of Turn 1, but both escaped with relatively little damage.

Louis Foster and Dennis Hauger encountered more significant problems, however. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing had changed the Honda engine in Foster's car, but then also encountered an issue with a fuel line, costing the driver valuable track time. Hauger, meanwhile, had telemetry problems and was unable to turn a lap.

Full results of the 1st free practice session on Portland