Indy 500: Rahal leads Dixon in opening practice
Graham Rahal put defending Indy 500 winners Rahal Letterman Lanigan-Honda on top for the opening practice for the 105th running of the Indianapolis 500, ahead of 2008 winner Scott Dixon.
Rahal lapped at 223.449mph, to marginally shade Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda’s six-time IndyCar Series champion Dixon, with rookie Scott McLaughlin heading up Chevrolet’s attack with third fastest in the evocative Pennzoil-sponsored #3 Penske.
Two-time Indy 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya produced the best speed for Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet, ahead of Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan-Honda driver Ed Jones who finished third in his Indy 500 debut back in 2017.
2018 Indy winner Will Power was sixth just ahead of series returnee Santino Ferrucci in the third RLL-Honda, this year’s Texas Motor Speedway winner Pato O’Ward, 2016 Indy polesitter James Hinchcliffe, and three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves, in the second Meyer Shank Racing-Honda.
Three-time Indy 500 polesitter and local hero Ed Carpenter – runner-up in 2018 – was top of the no-tow speeds, ahead of O’Ward, Marcus Ericsson in the #8 Ganassi, RLL’s defending race winner Takuma Sato and Jones.
The best Turn 1 trap speed was 230.150mph turned by Conor Daly in the #47 U.S. Air Force-sponsored Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevy, while pacesetter Rahal was the fastest down to Turn 3, at 232.306mph.
There were four caution periods for spitting rain that took a hefty 43min chunk out of the two-hour session which saw 32 cars in action, of which Power and Ericsson turned the most laps – 30.
The next session is for rookies and refreshers. RC Enerson in the Top Gun Racing-Chevy is the only driver who has to run Rookie Orientation Program (ROP), which comprises Phase 1 – 10 laps at 205-210mph, Phase 2 – 15 laps at 210-215mph and Phase 3 – 15 laps above 215mph.
J.R. Hildebrand in the fourth AJ Foyt Racing-Chevy and Stefan Wilson in the sixth Andretti Autosport-Honda need to complete the veteran refresher program which comprises just Phases 2 and 3 above.
| P | No | Name | FTime | Diff | Gap | FL | Laps | FSpeed | Engine | Team |
| 1 | 15 | Graham Rahal | 40.2776 | 40.2776 | 0.000 | 18 | 19 | 223.449 | Honda | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 2 | 9 | Scott Dixon | 40.2829 | 0.0053 | 0.0053 | 9 | 20 | 223.420 | Honda | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 3 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin | 40.3885 | 0.1109 | 0.1056 | 12 | 18 | 222.836 | Chevy | Team Penske |
| 4 | 86 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 40.3985 | 0.1209 | 0.0100 | 10 | 19 | 222.781 | Chevy | Arrow McLaren SP |
| 5 | 18 | Ed Jones | 40.4131 | 0.1355 | 0.0146 | 5 | 19 | 222.700 | Honda | Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan |
| 6 | 12 | Will Power | 40.4611 | 0.1835 | 0.0480 | 29 | 30 | 222.436 | Chevy | Team Penske |
| 7 | 45 | Santino Ferrucci | 40.5034 | 0.2258 | 0.0423 | 10 | 18 | 222.204 | Honda | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 8 | 5 | Pato O'Ward | 40.5076 | 0.2300 | 0.0042 | 10 | 22 | 222.181 | Chevy | Arrow McLaren SP |
| 9 | 29 | James Hinchcliffe | 40.5423 | 0.2647 | 0.0347 | 11 | 11 | 221.990 | Honda | Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport |
| 10 | 06 | Helio Castroneves | 40.5660 | 0.2884 | 0.0237 | 6 | 19 | 221.861 | Honda | Meyer Shank Racing |
| 11 | 47 | Conor Daly | 40.5988 | 0.3212 | 0.0328 | 10 | 17 | 221.681 | Chevy | Ed Carpenter Racing |
| 12 | 24 | Sage Karam | 40.6637 | 0.3861 | 0.0649 | 21 | 26 | 221.328 | Chevy | Dreyer & Reinbold Racing |
| 13 | 48 | Tony Kanaan | 40.7421 | 0.4645 | 0.0784 | 8 | 10 | 220.902 | Honda | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 14 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | 40.7600 | 0.4824 | 0.0179 | 11 | 12 | 220.805 | Honda | Andretti Autosport |
| 15 | 26 | Colton Herta | 40.7863 | 0.5087 | 0.0263 | 10 | 12 | 220.662 | Honda | Andretti Autosport |
| 16 | 98 | Marco Andretti | 40.7930 | 0.5154 | 0.0067 | 18 | 21 | 220.626 | Honda | Andretti Herta-Haupert w/Marco & Curb-Agajanian |
| 17 | 10 | Alex Palou | 40.8164 | 0.5388 | 0.0234 | 11 | 18 | 220.500 | Honda | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 18 | 14 | Sebastien Bourdais | 40.8402 | 0.5626 | 0.0238 | 7 | 15 | 220.371 | Chevy | AJ Foyt Enterprises |
| 19 | 8 | Marcus Ericsson | 40.8897 | 0.6121 | 0.0495 | 19 | 30 | 220.104 | Honda | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 20 | 30 | Takuma Sato | 40.9077 | 0.6301 | 0.0180 | 4 | 18 | 220.007 | Honda | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 21 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay | 40.9093 | 0.6317 | 0.0016 | 7 | 13 | 219.999 | Chevy | Ed Carpenter Racing |
| 22 | 20 | Ed Carpenter | 40.9798 | 0.7022 | 0.0705 | 8 | 12 | 219.620 | Chevy | Ed Carpenter Racing |
| 23 | 59 | Max Chilton | 41.0908 | 0.8132 | 0.1110 | 8 | 14 | 219.027 | Chevy | Carlin |
| 24 | 22 | Simon Pagenaud | 41.0970 | 0.8194 | 0.0062 | 15 | 17 | 218.994 | Chevy | Team Penske |
| 25 | 7 | Felix Rosenqvist | 41.1461 | 0.8685 | 0.0491 | 9 | 18 | 218.733 | Chevy | Arrow McLaren SP |
| 26 | 16 | Simona De Silvestro | 41.1929 | 0.9153 | 0.0468 | 8 | 10 | 218.484 | Chevy | Paretta Autosport |
| 27 | 27 | Alexander Rossi | 41.3382 | 1.0606 | 0.1453 | 4 | 11 | 217.716 | Honda | Andretti Autosport |
| 28 | 51 | Pietro Fittipaldi | 41.3649 | 1.0873 | 0.0267 | 19 | 28 | 217.576 | Honda | Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing |
| 29 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | 41.6471 | 1.3695 | 0.2822 | 3 | 11 | 216.101 | Chevy | Team Penske |
| 30 | 4 | Dalton Kellett | 10:30.376 | 590.0989 | 588.7294 | 1 | 2 | 14.277 | Chevy | AJ Foyt Enterprises |
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