Formula 1 Hot News

IndyCar: Power turns fastest non-tow speed at Indy Thursday

Posted by AR1 staff

While 4 of the 5 fastest laps in Practice Thursday for the Indianapolis 500 were turned by Honda drivers, those speeds were all with a tow, which means absolutely zero for qualifying.

Takuma Sato in Dale Coyne’s #51 Honda was fastest overall at 227.335mph to beat Scott Dixon’s speed of 227.335mph.

Rookie David Malukas, Sato’s teammate at Dale Coyne Racing, was third at 226.869 in the No. 18 HMD Honda. 2011 Indy 500 Rookie of the Year JR Hildebrand clocked in fourth at 226.846 in the No. 11 Homes For Our Troops/AJ FOYT RACING Chevrolet.

Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson continued his impressive preparation for his first start in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” by ending up fifth at 226.409 in the No. 48 Carvana Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Johnson was third fastest overall on opening day Tuesday. Practice was rained out Wednesday.

The real fastest speeds of the day (i.e. non-tow speeds) were turned by Chevy powered drivers, with Will power leading the way at 224.519mph.

Rinus Veekay turned the 2nd fastest non-tow lap at just over 224mph in his Ed Carpenter Chevy to just nip his team boss Ed Carpenter who went 223.858mph

Alexander Rossi was the fastest non-tow Honda driver was 4th at 223.656mph in his Andretti Honda, while Power’s Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin rounded out  the top-5 non-tow speeds.

Weather may be top of mind for teams and drivers during practice from noon-6 p.m. Friday (live on Peacock Premium), as air temperatures in the mid- to high-80s and sustained winds of 15 to 25 mph will create tricky conditions on the 2.5-mile oval. Speeds also will climb on “Fast Friday” – the last full day of practice before PPG Presents Armed Forces Qualifying on Saturday and Sunday — because turbocharger boost levels are increased, adding an estimated 90 horsepower to the Chevrolet and Honda engines.

Teams will work on qualifying simulations Friday, trying to stay out of the aerodynamic tow that has produced the big speeds for the first two days of practice.

Thursday Practice Speeds

Pos No Name Time Diff Gap Speed Engine No Tow Ranking No Tow Speed Team
1 51 Takuma Sato 39.5539 0.000 0.000 227.519 Honda 29 219.172 Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR
2 9 Scott Dixon 39.5891 0.0319 0.0319 227.335 Honda 11 222.415 Chip Ganassi Racing
3 18 David Malukas 39.6705 0.1133 0.0814 226.869 Honda 21 220.445 Dale Coyne Racing with HMD
4 11 JR Hildebrand 39.6745 0.1173 0.0040 226.846 Chevy 30 219.026 AJ Foyt Enterprises
5 48 Jimmie Johnson 39.7510 0.1938 0.0765 226.409 Honda 23 220.296 Chip Ganassi Racing
6 5 Pato O’Ward 39.8146 0.2574 0.0636 226.048 Chevy 27 219.552 Arrow McLaren SP
7 8 Marcus Ericsson 39.8342 0.2770 0.0196 225.937 Honda 24 220.171 Chip Ganassi Racing
8 7 Felix Rosenqvist 39.8604 0.3032 0.0262 225.788 Chevy 25 219.871 Arrow McLaren SP
9 60 Simon Pagenaud 39.8926 0.3354 0.0322 225.606 Honda 13 222.236 Meyer Shank Racing
10 33 Ed Carpenter 39.9125 0.3553 0.0199 225.493 Chevy 3 223.858 Ed Carpenter Racing
11 4 Dalton Kellett 39.9189 0.3617 0.0064 225.457 Chevy 26 219.664 AJ Foyt Enterprises
12 21 Rinus VeeKay 39.9542 0.3970 0.0353 225.258 Chevy 2 224.047 Ed Carpenter Racing
13 30 Christian Lundgaard 39.9559 0.3987 0.0017 225.248 Honda 14 222.048 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
14 45 Jack Harvey 39.9863 0.4291 0.0304 225.077 Honda 17 221.513 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
15 98 Marco Andretti 40.0061 0.4489 0.0198 224.966 Honda 28 219.248 Andretti Herta Autosport w/ Marco & Curb
16 26 Colton Herta 40.0128 0.4556 0.0067 224.928 Honda 10 222.754 Andretti Autosport
17 3 Scott McLaughlin 40.0396 0.4824 0.0268 224.777 Chevy 5 223.613 Team Penske
18 20 Conor Daly 40.0400 0.4828 0.0004 224.775 Chevy 8 223.439 Ed Carpenter Racing
19 14 Kyle Kirkwood 40.0428 0.4856 0.0028 224.760 Chevy 19 221.160 AJ Foyt Enterprises
20 10 Alex Palou 40.0810 0.5238 0.0382 224.545 Honda 22 220.439 Chip Ganassi Racing
21 12 Will Power 40.1204 0.5632 0.0394 224.325 Chevy 1 224.325 Team Penske
22 06 Helio Castroneves 40.1250 0.5678 0.0046 224.299 Honda 12 222.261 Meyer Shank Racing
23 28 Romain Grosjean 40.1352 0.5780 0.0102 224.242 Honda 31 218.799 Andretti Autosport
24 77 Callum Ilott 40.1742 0.6170 0.0390 224.024 Chevy 16 221.894 Juncos Hollinger Racing
25 6 Juan Pablo Montoya 40.1754 0.6182 0.0012 224.018 Chevy 230.214 197.724 Arrow McLaren SP
26 23 Santino Ferrucci 40.1932 0.6360 0.0178 223.918 Chevy 18 221.353 Dreyer & Reinbold
27 15 Graham Rahal 40.2140 0.6568 0.0208 223.803 Honda 15 221.922 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
28 27 Alexander Rossi 40.2403 0.6831 0.0263 223.656 Honda 4 223.656 Andretti Autosport
29 1 Tony Kanaan 40.2503 0.6931 0.0100 223.601 Honda 20 220.588 Chip Ganassi Racing
30 24 Sage Karam 40.2584 0.7012 0.0081 223.556 Chevy 6 223.556 Dreyer & Reinbold
31 2 Josef Newgarden 40.2754 0.7182 0.0170 223.461 Chevy 7 223.461 Team Penske
32 29 Devlin DeFrancesco 40.3239 0.7667 0.0485 223.193 Honda 9 223.193 Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport
33 25 Stefan Wilson 40.5254 0.9682 0.2015 222.083 Chevy 32 217.971 DragonSpeed/Cusick Motorsports