Five drivers ventured to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday morning for the first of two 30-minute practice sessions in preparation for the first round of qualifying, in which the fastest 30 of the 34 entered cars will earn Indy 500 spots.
Of the five, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Jack Harvey used new engines after problems late in Friday’s practice necessitated engine changes. Arrow McLaren’s Tony Kanaan was the quickest of the five, setting the #66 Chevy a lap at 233.026mph in cool conditions, which created thicker air that gave the cars unwanted downforce.
Teammate Alexander Rossi was just behind with a lap of 232.904 mph in the No. 7 Chevy, and Dixon, who completed several qualifying simulation runs, was third at 232.470 mph in the No. 9 Honda. Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta was fourth in the #26 Honda with a lap of 232.355 mph and Harvey was significantly behind in the #30 Honda at 229.363 mph.
Five other riders started the second 30-minute session, which the other half of the field were welcome to run with, and headed onto the 2.5-mile oval, led by CGR’s Alex Palou, who clocked a run of 232.823 miles drove the fastest lap of his group per hour. Andretti’s Kyle Kirkwood was next at a speed of 232.615 mph in his No. 27 Honda, followed by Ed Carpenter Racing’s Conor Daly, who set a lap at 231.438 mph in the No. 20 Chevy.
Andretti’s Devlin DeFrancesco managed a lap of 230.653 mph in the #29 Honda, and the beleaguered Juncos Hollinger Racing team hauled Callum Ilott onto a new #77 Chevy chassis and made some of the missing speed — the one’s 230.126 mph worthy of the hour – back in ninth place of the ten riders, just ahead of Harvey.
NEXT: Qualifiers, 11 p.m. ET, on NBC and Peacock.
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