Listen to this article Herta lapped the 2.366-mile 17-turn course in Birmingham, AL, in 66.5149sec, an average speed of 124.483mph to shade Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda’s defending race-winner here, by a mere 0.05sec. Alexander Rossi was precisely 0.1sec behind Andretti Autosport teammate Herta but a hair faster than another teammate, Romain Grosjean, who is returning to the site of his first ever IndyCar race last year. In a session that suggested Honda have retained somewhat of an advantage over Chevrolet on sinewy road courses, St. Petersburg winner, Team Penske-Chevy’s Scott McLaughlin, made a late improvement to bound into fifth place ahead of New Zealand compatriot Scott Dixon in the second quickest Ganassi. Last year’s pole-winner, Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward, was the second fastest of the Chevys with a 66.9838sec, some 0.47sec off the ultimate pace. Behind him …