Hinchcliffe tops opening day of Indy 500 practice, Alonso fifth on return

Making only his third IndyCar Series outing of the year, 2016 pole-winner Hinchcliffe turned a 224.526mph average on his 35th of 80 laps in the afternoon session to edge team-mate Marco Andretti by 0.18mph.

Similarly impressive was his no-tow speed of 220.732mph, a mere 0.003mph slower than team-mate and 2014 Indy winner Ryan Hunter-Reay who ended the day fourth fastest overall.

The non-Andretti interloper in the top four was series points leader Scott Dixon's Chip Ganassi Racing machine, the 2008 Indy 500 winner clocking a best effort of 224.046mph.

One year after failing to qualify for the 500, two-time Formula 1 world champion Alonso's resumption of his assault on the Triple Crown began well with the fifth fastest time - and top Chevrolet runner - although the Spaniard's Arrow McLaren SP car only completed 29 laps.

Alonso placed just ahead of 2019 IndyCar Series champion Josef Newgarden in the fastest of the four Team Penske entries.

Although Newgarden's Indy-winning team-mates Helio Castroneves, Simon Pagenaud and Will Power were down in 10th, 12th and 23rd respectively, Power, Castroneves and Newgarden had topped the average speeds over 30 laps, equivalent to one full stint.

Top rookie honours went to Alex Palou of Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh in eighth place, one place ahead of Iowa polesitter Conor Daly, back with traditional pole-contending outfit Ed Carpenter Racing after his strong showing with the Carlin team last time out.

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One-time Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan took a run in Foyt team-mate Dalton Kellett's car to reassure the Canadian rookie that all was well with his machine, and Kellett duly completed his Rookie Orientation Practice, which he hadn't quite done in the early afternoon session.

The third Foyt entry driven by Charlie Kimball had a slightly alarming brush with the Turn 2 wall - curiously, on corner entry - but that was the closest anyone came to causing a yellow. The other caution periods were for track inspections.

After the end of practice, the DragonSpeed car of Ben Hanley, who hadn't turned a lap throughout the day, was allowed out alone on track for a shakedown and to run his Refresher course.

Weather allowing, action resumes tomorrow morning at 11am local (Eastern) time with six-and-a-half hours available to all 33 runners.

Results

Pos	Driver	Team	Speed	Laps
1	James Hinchcliffe	Andretti Autosport	224.526	80
2	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport	224.345	96
3	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	224.047	61
4	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	223.341	81
5	Fernando Alonso	Arrow McLaren SP	223.238	29
6	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	223.188	82
7	Jack Harvey	Meyer Shank Racing	223.178	107
8	Alex Palou	Dale Coyne Racing	223.128	60
9	Conor Daly	Ed Carpenter Racing	223.020	80
10	Helio Castroneves	Team Penske	222.929	62
11	Tony Kanaan	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	222.873	58
12	Simon Pagenaud	Team Penske	222.849	112
13	Takuma Sato	Rahal Letterman Lanigan	222.551	84
14	Felix Rosenqvist	Chip Ganassi Racing	222.541	89
15	Charlie Kimball	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	222.438	102
16	Rinus Van Kalmthout	Ed Carpenter Racing	222.061	76
17	Sage Karam	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	222.031	46
18	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Autosport	221.952	77
19	Santino Ferrucci	Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan	221.905	87
20	Ed Carpenter	Ed Carpenter Racing	221.813	102
21	James Davison	Dale Coyne Racing	221.709	36
22	Colton Herta	Andretti Harding	221.699	91
23	Will Power	Team Penske	221.634	124
24	Marcus Ericsson	Chip Ganassi Racing	221.588	129
25	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan	221.498	111
26	Spencer Pigot	Citrone Buhl Autosport with RLL	221.492	81
27	Zach Veach	Andretti Autosport	221.359	98
28	Patricio O'Ward	Arrow McLaren SP	221.341	55
29	Max Chilton	Carlin	221.147	36
30	Dalton Kellett	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	220.825	26
31	Oliver Askew	Arrow McLaren SP	220.130	51
32	J.R. Hildebrand	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	219.859	29
33	Tony Kanaan	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	218.306	6
34	Ben Hanley	DragonSpeed	0.000	0