Indy 500: Rahal leads Dixon in opening practice

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