C🍃olton 𓆏Herta led a rookie 1-2-3 sweep of the final opening practice session of the 2019 NTT IndyCar Series season at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

The 19-year-old Californian lapped the 2.238-mile road course in 1 minute 10.7335 seconds on his penultimate lap of the 45-minute session. His solid practice run went upside-down a ♉lap later as he spun heading into the track’s famous Corkscrew and got stuck in the gravel.

IndyCar officials ended the session one-minute shy of the scheduled time as the AMR Safety Crew retrieved his str🃏anded No. 88 Harding Steinbrenner Racing Honda.

Hert🌞a’s flyer displaced th𒁏e Chip Ganassi Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist by .0719s after the Swede led much of the session.

Dale Coyne Racing rookie Santino Ferrღucci recovered from an off-track excursion to clock the third quickest time of 1:10.8837s.

The quickest from the Penske Chevrolet camp came by way of Australian Will Power while Andretti Aut🅷🐭osport rookie Zach Veach completed the top five.

Varied results hit the four championship contenders as Indy 500 winner Simon Pagenaud fared the𓄧 best in sixth at 1:11.1519s. His points-leading teammate Josef Newgarden slotted in three spots behind ꩵin ninth.

The remaining title contenders Scott Dixon and Alexander Rossi had lꦐess than memorable runs. Dixon logged an unspectacular 12th quickest lap while runner up Aﷺlexander Rossi ended the day dead last, nearly 2.25 second behind Herta's time.

His run was cut short by hardware issues and fought to con🅘trol his No. 27 NAPA Auto Parts Honda throughout his four meager𒁏 practice laps.

The session was stopped one additional time midway through for Tony Kanaan’s spin int🔜o the gravel trap in Turn 11.