Marco Andretti quickest on final practice day before Indianapolis 500 qualifying
Marco Andretti set the fastest time of the month to claim the top spot on Fast Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway - the final full day of practice before Indy 500 qualifying
The Andretti Autosport driver produced a quickest lap of 39.5535s (227.540mph) on what was the first day that teams were allowed to run the additional 10 kPa of boost (equivalent to 40-50bhp) that will be utilised for qualifying and Bump Day.
"Today was a big day for us," Andretti said. "I thought we were at a bit of deficit to my team-mates to start the month, but we just kept rubbing on it, we never gave up, and we kind of woke the car up. And obviously with this added boost today, it woke my car up, in particular, as well.
"But we've been working really hard, too, and finding that every couple of tenths of a mile an hour, and it all adds up."
Penske's Ryan Briscoe was best of the rest at 226.835mph, putting him just ahead of team-mate Helio Castroneves (226.716mph) and Andretti's Ryan Hunter-Reay (226400mph).
Ganassi's Scott Dixon was the fastest of the Honda-powered drivers in fourth with a 226.224mph lap, while the Lotus-powered drivers Jean Alesi and Simona de Silvestro reported small gains, but still found themselves 13mph off the frontrunning pace.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Marco Andretti Andretti DW12-Chevy 39.5535s 2. Ryan Briscoe Penske DW12-Chevy 39.6764s + 0.1229s 3. Helio Castroneves Penske DW12-Chevy 39.6973s + 0.1438s 4. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti DW12-Chevy 39.7526s + 0.1991s 5. Scott Dixon Ganassi DW12-Honda 39.7836s + 0.2301s 6. James Hinchcliffe Andretti DW12-Chevy 39.8276s + 0.2741s 7. Ana Beatriz Andretti/Conquest DW12-Chevy 39.8842s + 0.3307s 8. JR Hildebrand Panther DW12-Chevy 39.8987s + 0.3452s 9. Dario Franchitti Ganassi DW12-Honda 39.9344s + 0.3809s 10. Tony Kanaan KV DW12-Chevy 39.9428s + 0.3893s 11. Will Power Penske DW12-Chevy 39.9488s + 0.3953s 12. EJ Viso KV DW12-Chevy 39.9757s + 0.4222s 13. Josef Newgarden Fisher DW12-Honda 39.9963s + 0.4428s 14. Charlie Kimball Ganassi DW12-Honda 40.0064s + 0.4529s 15. James Jakes Dale Coyne DW12-Honda 40.0071s + 0.4536s 16. Ed Carpenter Carpenter DW12-Chevy 40.0096s + 0.4561s 17. Takuma Sato Rahal DW12-Honda 40.0312s + 0.4777s 18. Graham Rahal Ganassi DW12-Honda 40.0375s + 0.4840s 19. Sebastian Saavedra AFS/Andretti DW12-Chevy 40.0604s + 0.5069s 20. Mike Conway Foyt DW12-Honda 40.1190s + 0.5655s 21. Rubens Barrichello KV DW12-Chevy 40.1299s + 0.5764s 22. Justin Wilson Dale Coyne DW12-Honda 40.1324s + 0.5789s 23. Bryan Clauson Fisher DW12-Honda 40.1384s + 0.5849s 24. Alex Tagliani Herta DW12-Honda 40.2547s + 0.7012s 25. Wade Cunningham Foyt DW12-Honda 40.3773s + 0.8238s 26. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt DW12-Honda 40.4065s + 0.8530s 27. Townsend Bell Schmidt DW12-Honda 40.5885s + 1.0350s 28. Michel Jourdain Jr Rahal DW12-Honda 40.6511s + 1.0976s 29. Sebastien Bourdais Dragon DW12-Chevy 40.6888s + 1.1353s 30. Katherine Legge Dragon DW12-Chevy 41.0154s + 1.4619s 31. Jean Alesi Fan Force DW12-Lotus 42.1697s + 2.6162s 32. Simona de Silvestro HVM DW12-Lotus 42.3498s + 2.7963s
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