IndyCar: Dixon tops 1st day of crash-filled testing at IMS

On a cold day in Indianapolis that saw several veterans lose control of their IndyCars and hit the wall, or lucky to avoid contact, veteran Scott Dixon turned the fastest lap at 227.187 mph in his #9 Ganassi Honda.

Conor Daly was 2nd quick in the #20 Ed Carpenter Chevy.

Rookie Callum Ilott was an impressive 3rd fastest in his #77 Juncos Hollinger Chevy.

“I think the conditions are always pretty ideal when you run this time of year,” Dixon said. “The car feels really good. A lot of it depends on track placement and how much confidence you have in the car, how big a tow you can get. I guess we lucked out on that today.

“We still have a bit of a test. We didn’t get through too much of it because the session was kind of fragmented, then obviously finishing early. Still a lot of work to do I think for the tomorrow. Maybe we’ll get a bit of a time extension tomorrow depending on conditions. All in all, I think all the drivers were really confident with how the day went and how the cars felt. But I think that’s maybe across the board because of conditions.”

Santino Ferrucci was 4th quick in his #23 Dreyer & Reinbold Chevy while Marcus Ericsson rounded out the top-5 in the #8 Ganassi Honda.

Three drivers – all Indianapolis 500 winners – spun while either on or exiting the acceleration lane from the pits in Turns 1 and 2:

1.  #27 Andretti Autosport Honda driver Alexander Rossi in the south short chute, but missed the wall
2. #12 Team Penske Chevy driver Will Power on the Apron in Turn 1 exiting the pits causing…
3. #25 Andretti Autosport Honda driver Colton Herta to spin and crash in Turn 2 avoiding Power
4. #06 Meyer Shank Racing Honda driver Helio Castroneves spun and hit the Turn 2 wall on his own

All the drivers who crashed said they had zero warning, the car just swapped ends.  It may have been cold tires, but the officials ended the session early to inspect the track apron that has been treated with some sort of traction compound.

If so, the traction compound will work when the temps warm up.

“I’m pretty sure we were both looking at each other in the eyes.”@ColtonHerta talks about his incident exiting Turn 1, and how @Ericsson_Marcus did a great job avoiding contact. #IsItMayYet | #Indy500 pic.twitter.com/6KhrIylATz

— Indianapolis Motor Speedway (@IMS) April 20, 2022

Better this happened today than in May for @h3lio.

Watch the #Indy500 open test LIVE on @peacockTV.#INDYCAR | #IsItMayYet pic.twitter.com/vAh0T05xhs

— Indianapolis Motor Speedway (@IMS) April 20, 2022

All five Indianapolis 500 rookies still needing to complete the Rookie Orientation Program – Kyle Kirkwood, Devlin DeFrancesco, David Malukas, Christian Lundgaard and Ilott – passed all three phases of the test today. Marco Andretti completed his refresher test, while two-time “500” winner Juan Pablo Montoya and Sage Karam will finish their refreshers Thursday.

Wednesday Test Times