Malukas shows top-five Indy 500 pace despite “spicy” handling

Malukas set top-five pace across the first half of the opening day of free practice for the 107^th running of the biggest race in American open-wheel racing on Wednesday.

He lapped at 226.061mph, some way off Scott Dixon’s pacesetting 229.174mph, but close behind Will Power, Alex Palou and Scott McLaughlin.

“We’re kinda just getting started, but we were definitely on the spicy side of things to start with,” Malukas told NBC Peacock. “We put extra downforce in it to make sure, but we were having lots of oversteer moments, a lot of wake-up calls, so I didn’t really need my cup of coffee this morning!

“So we kinda dialled it back a little bit, so it’s something to work off, and now we’re doing a setdown [to check the car’s settings] and we’ll come back and be in a much better position”

Malukas finished 16^th – and top rookie, ahead of Kyle Kirkwood – at the Indy 500 last year. He said that returning with that knowledge has been huge for his second attempt at the daunting IMS oval.

“It’s massive, it’s night and day,” he added. “We came straight into this month doing changes how we want, I lost count of the days it took me to feel comfortable here with the car and go side-by-side with cars at such high speeds last year.

“The success we’ve had on ovals has also helped, so it’s looking very good for us.”

David Malukas, Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports Honda

Photo by: Geoffrey M. Miller / Motorsport Images

Malukas finished runner-up in last year’s oval race at Gateway, which he backed up with fourth in Texas this season – marking him out as leading light on oval tracks with Coyne’s small team.

With Takuma Sato leaving the team over the winter for an oval-only campaign with Chip Ganassi Racing, Malukas is now partnered by rookie Sting Ray Robb, who is currently 13th fastest.

When asked how it felt to be team leader, he replied: “It’s weird to say that somehow I’m the veteran. I’m still calling myself ‘Little Dave’!

“I’m trying to help Sting Ray as much as possible. The good thing is our driving styles are very alike, very similar, so looking at the previous footage from Takuma last year, I’m trying to tell him everything he told me.

“I’m being an open book. The quicker he’s up to speed, the better we’re going to be able to do working different setups so both of us can advance up the grid.

“We did a little bit of traffic running, so the rest of today is about trying to find some pace on our own. And then maybe at the end of the day, with the last sets of tires, people will be ready to come play and we’ll do some traffic running.”