Josef Newgarden fastest on day one of Indianapolis 500 practice
Rookie Josef Newgarden was quickest for Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing on the opening day of practice for the first Indianapolis 500 of IndyCar's new rules era on Saturday
The day was largely a shakedown for the 24 drivers who were ready to run, but Newgarden still managed an early lap of 40.8627s at an average speed of 220.250mph.
JR Hildebrand, who came agonisingly close to victory as a rookie at Indy in 2011, was second quickest for Panther Racing, followed by Newgarden's new team-mate Bryan Clauson.
"The team has done it all year. People have seen before that they can produce a good road/street car, and there's no issues oval-wise," said Newgarden. "They've built really good, reliable, comfortable racecars for me, and they're doing the same for Bryan now.
"That's all it is, really. They make our job really easy, and I think that's what you guys are seeing. It bodes well, if anything, it's not really a big deal to be quick on this day, but it speaks well for the team."
Dale Coyne Racing's James Jakes and KV Racing Technology's Tony Kanaan completed the top five, while several drivers among the Penske/Ganassi/Andretti group which will be favourites for victory chose not to run on Saturday.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Josef Newgarden Fisher DW12-Honda 40.8627s 2. JR Hildebrand Panther DW12-Chevy 40.9662s + 0.1035s 3. Bryan Clauson Fisher DW12-Honda 40.9776s + 0.1149s 4. James Jakes Dale Coyne DW12-Honda 41.2304s + 0.3677s 5. Tony Kanaan KV DW12-Chevy 41.3335s + 0.4708s 6. Charlie Kimball Ganassi DW12-Honda 41.3415s + 0.4788s 7. Helio Castroneves Penske DW12-Chevy 41.3571s + 0.4944s 8. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt DW12-Honda 41.3825s + 0.5198s 9. Justin Wilson Dale Coyne DW12-Honda 41.3929s + 0.5302s 10. Scott Dixon Ganassi DW12-Honda 41.4281s + 0.5654s 11. Oriol Servia Panther/DRR DW12-Chevy 41.4367s + 0.5740s 12. Takuma Sato Rahal DW12-Honda 41.4403s + 0.5776s 13. Graham Rahal Ganassi DW12-Honda 41.4657s + 0.6030s 14. Will Power Penske DW12-Chevy 41.5341s + 0.6714s 15. EJ Viso KV DW12-Chevy 41.5723s + 0.7096s 16. Ryan Briscoe Penske DW12-Chevy 41.5759s + 0.7132s 17. Sebastian Saavedra AFS/Andretti DW12-Chevy 41.6463s + 0.7836s 18. Alex Tagliani Herta DW12-Honda 41.7936s + 0.9309s 19. Rubens Barrichello KV DW12-Chevy 41.7943s + 0.9316s 20. Michel Jourdain Jr Rahal DW12-Honda 41.8856s + 1.0229s 21. Mike Conway Foyt DW12-Honda 42.0263s + 1.1636s 22. Ed Carpenter Carpenter DW12-Chevy 42.0636s + 1.2009s 23. Jean Alesi Fan Force DW12-Lotus 42.9721s + 2.1094s 24. Simona de Silvestro HVM DW12-Lotus 44.9201s + 4.0574s
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