IndyCar: Kanaan leads Carb Day Practice at Indy

Tony Kanaan, the driver of the no 1 American Legion Chip Ganassi Racing entry, set the fastest lap for the Miller Lite Carb Day practice session which was delayed half an hour by wet conditions this morning.

Another Ganassi teammate, Marcus Ericsson, driver of the no 8 Huski Chocolate car, had the second-fastest lap.  The Swede had the fastest no-tow speed of 221.806mph, which will be important for the race on Sunday

Takuma Sato, driver of the no 51 Nurtec ODT Dale Coyne Racing with RWR, was third.

Polesitter Scott Dixon, another Ganassi driver of the no 9 PNC Bank entry,  was fourth fastest.

Sage Karem, driver of no 24 AES Indiana DRR entry, was fifth fastest.  The 27-year-old did 61 laps today in the 90 minute practice.

Kanaan was quite entertaining in the press conference after the practice with his good friend, Juan Pablo Montoya.  They bantered back and forth about their setups and not knowing whose car is who due to them only driving this race this season.

Kanaan did comment on today’s practice.  “Today is not important at all. We had a good car all month. We didn’t go out and let’s be fastest on Carb Day. It doesn’t count, doesn’t mean anything. It’s a consequence of a good car that we had all month. You look at teammates, they’re all there.”

“Glad it’s been working out for us. After this interview, it doesn’t matter anymore. We’re all going for the race on Sunday.  Anything can happen. Doesn’t matter how good of a car
you have if you’re not in the right place at the right time.”
The track goes quiet now as teams make final preparations for the big race on Sunday starting at 11:00am on NBC.

Final Practice Results

Pos No Name Time Behind Gap Laps Speed Engine Team
1 1 Tony Kanaan 39.6277 0.000s 0.000s 46 227.114 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
2 8 Marcus Ericsson 39.6468 0.0191 0.0191 30 227.004 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
3 51 Takuma Sato 39.6757 0.0480 0.0289 45 226.839 Honda Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR
4 9 Scott Dixon 39.7007 0.0730 0.0250 35 226.696 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
5 24 Sage Karam 39.7322 0.1045 0.0315 61 226.517 Chevy Dreyer & Reinbold
6 12 Will Power 39.8174 0.1897 0.0852 53 226.032 Chevy Team Penske
7 48 Jimmie Johnson 39.8276 0.1999 0.0102 49 225.974 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
8 5 Pato O’Ward 39.8661 0.2384 0.0385 42 225.756 Chevy Arrow McLaren SP
9 98 Marco Andretti 39.8735 0.2458 0.0074 61 225.714 Honda Andretti Herta Autosport w/ Marco & Curb
10 7 Felix Rosenqvist 39.8822 0.2545 0.0087 61 225.665 Chevy Arrow McLaren SP
11 20 Conor Daly 39.9028 0.2751 0.0206 45 225.548 Chevy Ed Carpenter Racing
12 30 Christian Lundgaard 39.9118 0.2841 0.0090 61 225.497 Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
13 3 Scott McLaughlin 39.9146 0.2869 0.0028 56 225.481 Chevy Team Penske
14 10 Alex Palou 39.9229 0.2952 0.0083 49 225.435 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
15 25 Stefan Wilson 39.9302 0.3025 0.0073 45 225.393 Chevy DragonSpeed/Cusick Motorsports
16 6 Juan Pablo Montoya 39.9354 0.3077 0.0052 41 225.364 Chevy Arrow McLaren SP
17 18 David Malukas 39.9875 0.3598 0.0521 35 225.070 Honda Dale Coyne Racing with HMD
18 06 Helio Castroneves 40.0052 0.3775 0.0177 41 224.971 Honda Meyer Shank Racing
19 14 Kyle Kirkwood 40.0286 0.4009 0.0234 60 224.839 Chevy AJ Foyt Enterprises
20 26 Colton Herta 40.0567 0.4290 0.0281 43 224.682 Honda Andretti Autosport
21 60 Simon Pagenaud 40.0977 0.4700 0.0410 52 224.452 Honda Meyer Shank Racing
22 11 JR Hildebrand 40.1302 0.5025 0.0325 40 224.270 Chevy AJ Foyt Enterprises
23 2 Josef Newgarden 40.1492 0.5215 0.0190 62 224.164 Chevy Team Penske
24 77 Callum Ilott 40.1502 0.5225 0.0010 68 224.158 Chevy Juncos Hollinger Racing
25 27 Alexander Rossi 40.2294 0.6017 0.0792 56 223.717 Honda Andretti Autosport
26 45 Jack Harvey 40.3244 0.6967 0.0950 58 223.190 Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
27 28 Romain Grosjean 40.3352 0.7075 0.0108 56 223.130 Honda Andretti Autosport
28 15 Graham Rahal 40.3519 0.7242 0.0167 53 223.038 Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
29 23 Santino Ferrucci 40.3896 0.7619 0.0377 54 222.830 Chevy Dreyer & Reinbold
30 29 Devlin DeFrancesco 40.4804 0.8527 0.0908 42 222.330 Honda Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport
31 33 Ed Carpenter 40.4846 0.8569 0.0042 23 222.307 Chevy Ed Carpenter Racing
32 4 Dalton Kellett 40.5641 0.9364 0.0795 49 221.871 Chevy AJ Foyt Enterprises
33 21 Rinus VeeKay 40.7908 1.1631 0.2267 18 220.638 Chevy Ed Carpenter Racing

 

Lucille Dust and Mark C reporting