Practice report
IndyCar Indy 500
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.
David Malsher-Lopez
Edited: May 19, 2021, 11:30 AM
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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.
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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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