Colton Herta - Indianapolis 500 Practice - By_ Chris Owens

IndyCar News: Andretti cars 1-2 top no-tow speeds at Indy Thurs.

On a day when two drivers ran out of talent and plastered the Indianapolis Motor Speedway wall, Colton Herta turned the fastest lap without a two in his #26 Andretti Honda at 224.182 mph.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Herta’s lap without a tow was good enough for 4th overall.

2nd quick without a tow was Herta’s teammate Kyle Kirkwood at 223.387mph on a full day of Practice for the Indy 500.

With a tow, the two quickest were Pato O’Ward (228.861 mph) and Scott McLaughlin – see 2nd table below.

“We got a really fat tow lap on the board, which was unexpected,” O’Ward said. “I’m happy with my car. We did race runs. We did qualifying runs. Obviously, it doesn’t necessarily translate perfectly to when the boosts come up just because the speed is so different. But tomorrow if it does rain out, at least we got a bit of a feeling of what the car is tending to want to do on a bit more trim level.”

Reigning Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden rounded out the top five overall at 226.684 in the No. 2 Shell Powering Progress Team Penske Chevrolet.

Marcus Ericsson in the #28 Andretti Honda plastered the Turn 4 wall and then spun into the end of the pitlane wall and severely damaged his car. The team confirmed it will move to a backup car

Earlier Linus Lundqvist hit the Turn 2 wall in his Ganassi Honda.

Both drivers were checked and released from the infield care center.

Most of the first two days of scheduled practice was washed out by rain, and Friday’s forecast is questionable, so this session is valuable.

The eight-hour session today was halted for 68 minutes late in the afternoon and ended 13 minutes early due to rain, the third straight day precipitation has hampered practice.

Tomorrow is Fast Friday, when speeds will jump significantly because race officials allow more horsepower in preparation for this weekend’s qualifying. Track action starts at noon ET.

Thursday Indy 500 Practice speeds (Without-Tow)

Rank

Car

Driver Name

Engine

Non-Tow Time

Non-Tow Speed

Diff

Gap

1

26

Herta, Colton

Honda

40.1460s

224.182

–.—-

–.—-

2

27

Kirkwood, Kyle

Honda

40.2889s

223.387

0.1429

0.1429

3

06

Castroneves, Helio

Honda

40.3856s

222.852

0.2396

0.0967

4

15

Rahal, Graham

Honda

40.4187s

222.669

0.2727

0.0331

5

21

VeeKay, Rinus

Chevy

40.4264s

222.627

0.2804

0.0077

6

3

McLaughlin, Scott

Chevy

40.4485s

222.505

0.3025

0.0221

7

98

Andretti, Marco

Honda

40.4646s

222.417

0.3186

0.0161

8

28

Ericsson, Marcus

Honda

40.4662s

222.408

0.3202

0.0016

9

66

Blomqvist, Tom (R)

Honda

40.4732s

222.369

0.3272

0.0070

10

12

Power, Will

Chevy

40.4798s

222.333

0.3338

0.0066

11

60

Rosenqvist, Felix

Honda

40.5002s

222.221

0.3542

0.0204

12

75

Sato, Takuma

Honda

40.5127s

222.153

0.3667

0.0125

13

5

O’Ward, Pato

Chevy

40.5215s

222.104

0.3755

0.0088

14

33

Rasmussen, Christian (R)

Chevy

40.5854s

221.755

0.4394

0.0639

15

45

Lundgaard, Christian

Honda

40.6224s

221.553

0.4764

0.0370

16

30

Fittipaldi, Pietro

Honda

40.6498s

221.403

0.5038

0.0274

17

20

Carpenter, Ed

Chevy

40.6744s

221.269

0.5284

0.0246

18

78

Canapino, Agustin

Chevy

40.7099s

221.076

0.5639

0.0355

19

6

Ilott, Callum

Chevy

40.7501s

220.858

0.6041

0.0402

20

77

Grosjean, Romain

Chevy

40.7732s

220.733

0.6272

0.0231

21

2

Newgarden, Josef

Chevy

40.8271s

220.442

0.6811

0.0539

22

7

Rossi, Alexander

Chevy

40.9636s

219.707

0.8176

0.1365

23

41

Robb, Sting Ray

Chevy

40.9934s

219.548

0.8474

0.0298

24

17

Larson, Kyle (R)

Chevy

40.9955s

219.536

0.8495

0.0021

25

24

Daly, Conor

Chevy

41.0954s

219.003

0.9494

0.0999

26

23

Hunter-Reay, Ryan

Chevy

41.1404s

218.763

0.9944

0.0450

27

51

Legge, Katherine

Honda

41.1551s

218.685

1.0091

0.0147

28

18

Siegel, Nolan (R)

Honda

41.2164s

218.360

1.0704

0.0613

29

11

Armstrong, Marcus (R)

Honda

41.2632s

218.112

1.1172

0.0468

30

14

Ferrucci, Santino

Chevy

41.2714s

218.069

1.1254

0.0082

31

4

Simpson, Kyffin (R)

Honda

41.4509s

217.124

1.3049

0.1795

(R) Rookie

 

Thursday Indy 500 Practice Speeds (With Tow)

Rank

Car

Driver Name

Engine Time

Speed

Diff

Gap

1

5

O’Ward, Pato

Chevy

39.3252s

228.861

–.—-

–.—-

2

3

McLaughlin, Scott

Chevy

39.5925s

227.316

0.2673

0.2673

3

10

Palou, Alex

Honda

39.6624s

226.915

0.3372

0.0699

4

26

Herta, Colton

Honda

39.6776s

226.828

0.3524

0.0152

5

2

Newgarden, Josef

Chevy

39.7029s

226.684

0.3777

0.0253

6

98

Andretti, Marco

Honda

39.7257s

226.554

0.4005

0.0228

7

8

Lundqvist, Linus (R)

Honda

39.7771s

226.261

0.4519

0.0514

8

20

Carpenter, Ed

Chevy

39.8028s

226.115

0.4776

0.0257

9

12

Power, Will

Chevy

39.8804s

225.675

0.5552

0.0776

10

9

Dixon, Scott

Honda

39.8872s

225.636

0.5620

0.0068

11

24

Daly, Conor

Chevy

39.8914s

225.613

0.5662

0.0042

12

6

Ilott, Callum

Chevy

39.9773s

225.128

0.6521

0.0859

13

06

Castroneves, Helio

Honda

39.9900s

225.056

0.6648

0.0127

14

23

Hunter-Reay, Ryan

Chevy

40.0104s

224.942

0.6852

0.0204

15

11

Armstrong, Marcus (R)

Honda

40.0396s

224.777

0.7144

0.0292

16

77

Grosjean, Romain

Chevy

40.0668s

224.625

0.7416

0.0272

17

7

Rossi, Alexander

Chevy

40.0676s

224.620

0.7424

0.0008

18

28

Ericsson, Marcus

Honda

40.0727s

224.592

0.7475

0.0051

19

60

Rosenqvist, Felix

Honda

40.1406s

224.212

0.8154

0.0679

20

27

Kirkwood, Kyle

Honda

40.1462s

224.181

0.8210

0.0056

21

21

VeeKay, Rinus

Chevy

40.1617s

224.094

0.8365

0.0155

22

14

Ferrucci, Santino

Chevy

40.2778s

223.448

0.9526

0.1161

23

75

Sato, Takuma

Honda

40.2802s

223.435

0.9550

0.0024

24

51

Legge, Katherine

Honda

40.2860s

223.403

0.9608

0.0058

25

17

Larson, Kyle (R)

Chevy

40.3941s

222.805

1.0689

0.1081

26

78

Canapino, Agustin

Chevy

40.3979s

222.784

1.0727

0.0038

27

15

Rahal, Graham

Honda

40.4187s

222.669

1.0935

0.0208

28

4

Simpson, Kyffin (R)

Honda

40.4564s

222.462

1.1312

0.0377

29

66

Blomqvist, Tom (R)

Honda

40.4732s

222.369

1.1480

0.0168

30

45

Lundgaard, Christian

Honda

40.5294s

222.061

1.2042

0.0562

31

30

Fittipaldi, Pietro

Honda

40.5544s

221.924

1.2292

0.0250

32

33

Rasmussen, Christian (R)

Chevy

40.5657s

221.862

1.2405

0.0113

33

18

Siegel, Nolan (R)

Honda

40.7416s

220.904

1.4164

0.1759

34

41

Robb, Sting Ray

Chevy

40.9109s

219.990

1.5857

0.1693

(R) Rookie