Thursday was a repeat of Tuesday’s practice for the Indianapolis 500, as Scott Dixon sat at the top of the speed chart for Chip Ganassi Racing for most of the day before Dale Coyne Racing rode Rick Ware Racing’s Takuma Sato ahead for the best lap of the day in the closing minutes of the six-hour race.
Sato took advantage of a tow as nearly half the field spent the final hour on track and set a lap of 227.519mph in the #51 Honda to finish P1, but in the no-tow report (NTR ) he was classified on P29. While most drivers spent the middle of the session doing qualifying simulation runs, Sato and the DCR team opted to work on the race, which explained the high drag speed.
For Dixon and the No. 9 Honda, the day was spent satisfying both requirements as his best lap of 227.335mph was good enough for P2 and tied well with P11 on the NTR. DCR with HMD Motorsports’ David Malukas was P3 after following Sato’s lead by focusing on racing. His No. 18 Honda set a best time of 226.868mph and finished P21 on the NTR.
“It was a very productive day,” said Sato. “Two cars in the top three. More importantly, we are happy with the cars in traffic. We have made great progress.”
For the second straight day of Indy 500 practice, the Ganassi team was strong.
“Interesting day,” said Dixon. “Lots of running for everyone. For us, the race is on for the majority. Pretty lucky in some situations. In general I think we all had a pretty smooth day at Ganassi.”
AJ Foyt Racing’s JR Hildebrand finished P4 at 226.846 mph as a result of a great drag; his No. 11 AJ Foyt Racing Chevy was P30 on the NTR. Dixon’s Ganassi teammate Jimmie Johnson was P5 in the #48 Honda at 226.409mph, helped by a draft as the rookie was classified P23 on the NTR.
Completing the top six was Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward, who finished his day of racing slightly early. His No. 5 Chevy posted a best lap of 226.048 mph with a tow that gave him P27 on the NTR.
Of the remaining teams and drivers, Andretti Autosport has yet to flex its muscles; Marco Andretti was the best of the five cars in 15th, but Alexander Rossi was P4 on the NTR, which was promising after the 2016 Indy 500 winner posted the second fewest laps of any driver on Thursday.
Similarly, Team Penske didn’t make much of an attempt to achieve great speeds in tow as their fastest driver Scott McLaughlin was in P17, but the team’s focus was clear as Will Power was P1 on the NTR followed by Josef Newgarden in P4 and McLaughlin in P4. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Penske riders ahead of the curve when Fast Friday is given a high boost and qualifying runs dominate activity at the track.
The overcast day started hot, humid and windy and saw some cloud cover and temperatures decrease over time. There were no crashes or dramatic moments, apart from a warning for another fox running across the track and a couple of harrowing laps set by Romain Grosjean, who found his last run – a qualifying sim – that led to a few tight calls at the exit of turn 2 resulted in wall.
RESULTS
NEXT: Lent Friday practice, 12-6 p.m