Indy 500: Marco Andretti quickest on third day of practice
Marco Andretti edged Helio Castroneves to claim the quickest time at Indianpolis Motor Speedway as practice for the Indy 500 reached the end of its third day
Both drivers tipped into the 225mph range for the first time this year, with Andretti taking the honours with a 225.100mph average, just 0.025mph quicker than the time set by three-time Indy winner Castroneves.
Andretti said that the five-strong Andretti Autosport team was using its numbers to its advantage in trying to simulate racing conditions as closely as possible.
"Obviously it helps when you can simulate a mini-race, so we had that luxury and we've been taking full advantage of it," he said.
"Personally, I feel like that's how the Ganassis beat us last year.
"It was the first year for me that pole was in reach, so I got too fascinated with just how fast would the car go instead of getting the proper car underneath [me] for the race."
Castroneves, meanwhile, said that at this early point, the Penske team is looking after its engines and sticking to its practice programme.
"We are kind of managing mileage on the engine, so yesterday we did not run," he said.
"Right now we're trying to follow the schedule. We're not worried about the result. I dream about becoming a four-time winner, but you have to work before you achieve your dreams. And that's what we're going to do."
Better conditions resulted in faster times across the board, with eight drivers going quicker than the 223.023mph benchmark laid down on Sunday by rookie Carlos Munoz.
Among the drivers taking to the track for the first time were Briton Pippa Mann, who completed her veteran refresher in the third Dale Coyne entry before going on to run a total of 29 laps, and Conor Daly, who arrived from racing in GP3 at Barcelona over the weekend to tick off his rookie orientation programme in the second AJ Foyt car.
Pos Driver Team Engine Mph Time Gap 1. Marco Andretti Andretti Chevy 225.100 39.9823s 2. Helio Castroneves Penske Chevy 225.075 39.9866s + 0.0043s 3. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Chevy 224.386 40.1095s + 0.1272s 4. Will Power Penske Chevy 223.784 40.2173s + 0.2350s 5. JR Hildebrand Panther Chevy 223.624 40.2462s + 0.2639s 6. Takuma Sato Foyt Honda 223.363 40.2391s + 0.3108s 7. AJ Allmendinger Penske Chevy 223.264 40.3111s + 0.3288s 8. James Hinchcliffe Andretti Chevy 223.075 40.3452s + 0.3629s 9. Tony Kanaan KV Chevy 222.833 40.3890s + 0.4067s 10. Josef Newgarden Fisher Honda 222.340 40.4785s + 0.4962s 11. Carlos Munoz Andretti Chevy 222.239 40.4969s + 0.5146s 12. Oriol Servia Panther DRR Chevy 222.069 40.5280s + 0.5457s 13. Alex Tagliani Herta Honda 221.950 40.5497s + 0.5674s 14. Justin Wilson Coyne Honda 221.810 40.5752s + 0.5629s 15. Charlie Kimball Ganassi Honda 221.801 40.5770s + 0.5947s 16. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt Honda 221.704 40.5946s + 0.6123s 17. Simona de Silvestro KV Chevy 221.613 40.6114s + 0.6291s 18. Ryan Briscoe Ganassi Honda 221.531 40.6263s + 0.6440s 19. EJ Viso Andretti Chevy 221.250 40.6780s + 0.6957s 20. Ed Carpenter Carpenter Chevy 221.154 40.6957s + 0.7134s 21. Townsend Bell Panther Chevy 221.137 40.6987s + 0.7164s 22. Dario Franchitti Ganassi Honda 220.549 40.8072s + 0.8249s 23. Pippa Mann Coyne Honda 220.500 40.8163s + 0.8340s 24. Scott Dixon Ganassi Honda 220.419 40.8313s + 0.8490s 25. Graham Rahal Rahal Honda 220.360 40.8423s + 0.8600s 26. Ana Beatriz Coyne Honda 219.975 40.9137s + 0.9314s 27. Sebastien Bourdais Dragon Chevy 219.498 41.0026s + 1.0203s 28. Conor Daly Foyt Honda 219.044 41.0877s + 1.1054s 29. Sebastian Saavedra Dragon Chevy 218.633 41.1649s + 1.1826s 30. James Jakes Rahal Honda 218.351 41.2181s + 1.2358s 31. Tristan Vautier Schmidt Honda 217.556 41.3686s + 1.3863s All cars Dallara DW12
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments