IndyCar: Sato tops Fast Friday ahead of 500 qualifications

With the engines turned up by 90 HP, Dale Coyne Racing’s Takuma Sato turned a lap of 232.789mph (Trap Speed 243mph)  in qualifying trim to top all comers in his Honda-powered car on what is called Fast Friday ahead of qualifying for the Indy 500.

Sato’s teammate, rookie David Malukas, had the fastest 4-lap average on the day until Tony Kanaan pipped him by a whisker in the final 15 minutes of running.

Tony Kanaan had the fastest 4-lap average.  Photo by Chris Owens

Sato led with a lap of 232.789 mph in the No. 51 Nurtec ODT Honda during a four-lap qualifying simulation run in the last hour of the six-hour session, which took place in challenging conditions of air temperatures in the high 80s and steady winds of 20 mph, with gusts reaching 41 mph. It appeared Sato was headed to the fastest qualifying sim of the day, but he was forced to lift on his third lap. He still ended up fifth on the qualifying sim speed chart at 229.680.

“We were lacking downforce on Lap 3 and dropped off on Lap 4,” Sato said. “Lap 3 and Lap 4 are the key. We carried too little downforce.”

The speediest driver in a four-lap qualifying sim was 2013 “500” winner Tony Kanaan, at 47 the oldest driver in the field. Kanaan averaged 230.517 in the No. 1 The American Legion Chip Ganassi Racing Honda in the final hour of practice, toppling Sato’s Dale Coyne Racing teammate, rookie David Malukas, from the top of qualifying sim chart.

Malukas, 20, the youngest driver in the field, ended up second on the qualifying sim chart at 230.287 in the No. 18 HMD Honda. Malukas could become the first “500” rookie to win the pole for the Indianapolis 500 since Teo Fabi in 1983.

“We divided the program so David had more downforce,” Sato said. “It’s good to have at both ends, and we’ll just combine it tomorrow.”

Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi had the fastest speed for most of the day at 231.883mph in his Honda until beaten late by Sato.  However, Rossi’s speed was set in warmer conditions while Sato’s was set during happy hour.

Nether Sato or Rossi were in the top-10 for 4-lap averages that are required during qualifying. A top speed sounds nice, but it is the 4-lap average that counts.

Pato O’Ward was the fastest Chevy powered car in third at 231.798mph.

There is a practice session Saturday morning ahead of qualifying when we typically see the fastest times of the month, and the feeling is the Penske Chevy’s were sandbagging in today’s windy conditions and will turn up the wick on Saturday.

It should be noted that most of the top teams, like Andretti, Penske and Ganassi sat out most of the day because of the wind and the risk of an accident.

The only incident on Friday was when Jimmie Johnson slightly hit the wall and bent the floor and right rear suspension. He drove the car back to the pits.

“I’ve hit plenty of things during my career in racing,” Johnson said. “Luckily it wasn’t a full yard sale; it was just crossing the line a little bit. I was able to download with my teammates and get a better feel for positions with the tools inside the car. I was too cautious with my settings and had a lot of understeer in the car, and I just didn’t get on top of it quick enough.”

Friday Practice Results

Pos No Name Time Diff Gap FL Laps Speed Engine Team
1 51 Takuma Sato 38.6616 0.000s 0.000s 20 24 232.789 Honda Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR
2 27 Alexander Rossi 38.8127 0.1511 0.1511 4 6 231.883 Honda Andretti Autosport
3 5 Pato O’Ward 38.8269 0.1653 0.0142 7 12 231.798 Chevy Arrow McLaren SP
4 8 Marcus Ericsson 38.8296 0.1680 0.0027 2 7 231.782 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
5 9 Scott Dixon 38.8718 0.2102 0.0422 2 4 231.530 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
6 7 Felix Rosenqvist 38.8781 0.2165 0.0063 9 13 231.493 Chevy Arrow McLaren SP
7 18 David Malukas 38.8913 0.2297 0.0132 12 39 231.414 Honda Dale Coyne Racing with HMD
8 1 Tony Kanaan 38.8950 0.2334 0.0037 13 18 231.392 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
9 3 Scott McLaughlin 38.9263 0.2647 0.0313 11 14 231.206 Chevy Team Penske
10 2 Josef Newgarden 38.9307 0.2691 0.0044 2 7 231.180 Chevy Team Penske
11 12 Will Power 38.9364 0.2748 0.0057 6 11 231.146 Chevy Team Penske
12 10 Alex Palou 38.9467 0.2851 0.0103 3 4 231.085 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
13 24 Sage Karam 38.9904 0.3288 0.0437 11 14 230.826 Chevy Dreyer & Reinbold
14 20 Conor Daly 39.0304 0.3688 0.0400 26 37 230.589 Chevy Ed Carpenter Racing
15 28 Romain Grosjean 39.0846 0.4230 0.0542 9 10 230.270 Honda Andretti Autosport
16 77 Callum Ilott 39.1054 0.4438 0.0208 10 13 230.147 Chevy Juncos Hollinger Racing
17 48 Jimmie Johnson 39.1425 0.4809 0.0371 8 13 229.929 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
18 98 Marco Andretti 39.1560 0.4944 0.0135 4 7 229.850 Honda Andretti Herta Autosport w/ Marco & Curb
19 06 Helio Castroneves 39.1854 0.5238 0.0294 14 23 229.677 Honda Meyer Shank Racing
20 21 Rinus VeeKay 39.1926 0.5310 0.0072 2 16 229.635 Chevy Ed Carpenter Racing
21 60 Simon Pagenaud 39.2698 0.6082 0.0772 7 10 229.184 Honda Meyer Shank Racing
22 33 Ed Carpenter 39.4160 0.7544 0.1462 12 14 228.334 Chevy Ed Carpenter Racing
23 4 Dalton Kellett 39.6201 0.9585 0.2041 19 22 227.157 Chevy AJ Foyt Enterprises
24 15 Graham Rahal 39.6792 1.0176 0.0591 11 12 226.819 Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
25 29 Devlin DeFrancesco 39.7006 1.0390 0.0214 18 18 226.697 Honda Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport
26 23 Santino Ferrucci 39.7129 1.0513 0.0123 30 32 226.627 Chevy Dreyer & Reinbold
27 25 Stefan Wilson 39.7820 1.1204 0.0691 10 11 226.233 Chevy DragonSpeed/Cusick Motorsports
28 11 JR Hildebrand 39.7881 1.1265 0.0061 5 17 226.198 Chevy AJ Foyt Enterprises
29 14 Kyle Kirkwood 39.8117 1.1501 0.0236 15 17 226.064 Chevy AJ Foyt Enterprises
30 30 Christian Lundgaard 39.8437 1.1821 0.0320 6 7 225.883 Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
31 45 Jack Harvey 40.1215 1.4599 0.2778 8 8 224.319 Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
32 6 Juan Pablo Montoya 40.2210 1.5594 0.0995 2 6 223.764 Chevy Arrow McLaren SP
33 26 Colton Herta 40.7904 2.1288 0.5694 2 7 220.640 Honda Andretti Autosport