While Takuma Sato has said the IMS track surface has been surprisingly kind to the Firestones over race stints, the track conditions today threw up the problems predicted by Simon Pagenaud’s race engineer Ben Bretzman when it came to qualifying simulations.
The drivers who were trimmed out could start off with a really strong first lap but the loss of tire grip caused by 1.5-bar boost sending cars into the turn 8-10mph faster than yesterday, and increased weight transference thanks to the aeroscreen’s position and mass, would cause up to 4mph to bleed away by the fourth lap of a run. Other drivers tried keeping more downforce on, and while this lowered their ultimate speed, they were rewarded by greater consistency across the four laps.
Andretti’s remarkable lap from this morning inevitably held firm as track temperatures increased, while Daly’s lap which also received a tow kept him second.
A late improvement by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon saw the 2008 Indy winner jump to third fastest overall and second on the no-tow speeds, just ahead of Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay who was best of the no-tows, and Spencer Pigot of Citrone/Buhl Autosport with RLL.
Alex Palou made a late improvement to clock sixth for Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh, while Will Power clocked the best Penske speed of thet day but was still only 11th.
Fernando Alonso turned 52 laps, but was left down in 25th.
Following a one-hour practice session tomorrow, Qualifying gets underway at 11am local time, with Graham Rahal and Takuma Sato heading out first and second for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda.
Indy 500 Fast Friday speeds
|
P |
No |
Name |
FL |
Laps |
FSpeed |
Engine |
Team |
|
1 |
98 |
Marco Andretti |
10 |
43 |
233.491 |
Honda |
Andretti Herta with Marco & Curb-Agajanian |
|
2 |
47 |
Conor Daly |
14 |
44 |
232.337 |
Chevy |
Ed Carpenter Racing |
|
3 |
9 |
Scott Dixon |
18 |
30 |
232.290 |
Honda |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
|
4 |
28 |
Ryan Hunter-Reay |
3 |
34 |
232.124 |
Honda |
Andretti Autosport |
|
5 |
45 |
Spencer Pigot |
9 |
35 |
232.116 |
Honda |
RLL with Citrone/Buhl Autosport |
|
6 |
55 |
Alex Palou |
15 |
17 |
231.989 |
Honda |
Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh |
|
7 |
29 |
James Hinchcliffe |
10 |
30 |
231.967 |
Honda |
Andretti Autosport |
|
8 |
30 |
Takuma Sato |
43 |
53 |
231.880 |
Honda |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
|
9 |
27 |
Alexander Rossi |
23 |
60 |
231.859 |
Honda |
Andretti Autosport |
|
10 |
8 |
Marcus Ericsson |
12 |
22 |
231.763 |
Honda |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
|
11 |
12 |
Will Power |
25 |
27 |
231.605 |
Chevy |
Team Penske |
|
12 |
60 |
Jack Harvey |
10 |
47 |
231.600 |
Honda |
Meyer Shank Racing |
|
13 |
88 |
Colton Herta |
36 |
56 |
231.595 |
Honda |
Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport |
|
14 |
15 |
Graham Rahal |
45 |
56 |
231.239 |
Honda |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
|
15 |
26 |
Zach Veach |
11 |
46 |
231.190 |
Honda |
Andretti Autosport |
|
16 |
4 |
Charlie Kimball |
22 |
29 |
230.861 |
Chevy |
AJ Foyt Enterprises |
|
17 |
1 |
Josef Newgarden |
25 |
32 |
230.583 |
Chevy |
Team Penske |
|
18 |
5 |
Pato O’Ward |
10 |
43 |
230.581 |
Chevy |
Arrow McLaren SP |
|
19 |
7 |
Oliver Askew |
34 |
35 |
230.507 |
Chevy |
Arrow McLaren SP |
|
20 |
10 |
Felix Rosenqvist |
16 |
35 |
230.432 |
Honda |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
|
21 |
21 |
Rinus VeeKay |
16 |
27 |
230.331 |
Chevy |
Ed Carpenter Racing |
|
22 |
22 |
Simon Pagenaud |
2 |
28 |
230.189 |
Chevy |
Team Penske |
|
23 |
18 |
Santino Ferrucci |
6 |
43 |
230.154 |
Honda |
Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan |
|
24 |
14 |
Tony Kanaan |
26 |
31 |
229.946 |
Chevy |
AJ Foyt Enterprises |
|
25 |
66 |
Fernando Alonso |
49 |
52 |
229.788 |
Chevy |
Arrow McLaren SP |
|
26 |
51 |
James Davison |
10 |
37 |
229.766 |
Honda |
Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing/Byrd/Belardi |
|
27 |
20 |
Ed Carpenter |
4 |
44 |
229.563 |
Chevy |
Ed Carpenter Racing |
|
28 |
41 |
Dalton Kellett |
30 |
40 |
229.099 |
Chevy |
AJ Foyt Enterprises |
|
29 |
3 |
Helio Castroneves |
23 |
32 |
228.451 |
Chevy |
Team Penske |
|
30 |
67 |
JR Hildebrand |
14 |
34 |
228.275 |
Chevy |
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing |
|
31 |
24 |
Sage Karam |
15 |
37 |
228.187 |
Chevy |
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing |
|
32 |
59 |
Max Chilton |
58 |
62 |
227.610 |
Chevy |
Carlin |
|
33 |
81 |
Ben Hanley |
55 |
79 |
222.086 |
Chevy |
DragonSpeed USA |
