Colton Herta leads day one of IndyCar preseason testing

Colton Herta started the 2023 IndyCar season in about the best way possible.

Herta led the first and second sessions on Thursday, setting the day's fastest laptime in the second session. His time of 1:39.3721 was nearly matched by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's Christian Lundgaard, who posted a 1:39.3767, just +0.0046 short of the mark.

In all, Andretti Autosport had a great day one, with Herta and teammates Kyle Kirkwood and Romain Grosjean both placed in the top five in sessions one and two respectively, and the fourth Andretti driver Devlin DeFrancesco pushing toward the top ten — a marked sign of improvement from his rookie campaign.

It's too early to draw definitive conclusions, but Andretti Autosport has shown positive signs overall toward improving in 2023.

On the other hand, Arrow McLaren didn't place in the top ten in any session. It's more surprising, not shocking, and it's unclear why McLaren made decisions such as only running limited numbers of laps with new driver Alexander Rossi. It's possible they are on an accelerated testing timeline, and I'd expect more laps and faster laps from all McLaren drivers Friday.

The fastest rookie of the day was Marcus Armstrong in the No. 11 Chip Ganassi Honda, placing in the top ten in both sections.

Full results are included below, and expect a two-day combined standings following the fourth session this evening.

Day 2 will give us even more insight to IndyCar teams' 2023 development strategies, and my focus will be on McLaren.

Follow @ColinKulpa on Twitter for running commentary throughout the sessions, and go to racecontrol.indycar.com to follow live standings and data.