Indy 500: Dixon leads Ganassi 1-2-3-4 halfway through Day 3 practice
Scott Dixon, Marcus Ericsson, Tony Kanaan and Alex Palou have formed a Chip Ganassi Racing 1-2-3-4 on top of the speed charts halfway through the third day of practice for the Indianapolis 500.
The session started with a bizarre moment while the Rahal Letterman Lanigan of defending Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato, Graham Rahal and Indy ‘extra’ Santino Ferrucci drove very slowly in formation across the yard of bricks to create a photo opportunity.
Team Penske’s rookie Scott McLaughlin and Indy 500 returnee Simona de Silvestro came onto the pitstraight and seeing the slow cars ahead – and presumably warned by their spotters – the pair backed off in response to the tardy trio ahead.
However, Colton Herta in his Andretti Autosport came around Turn 4 at regular speed to be confronted by McLaughlin’s slowing car, and had to squeeze between the Penske and the outside wall. The gap wasn’t quite big enough for Herta’s car, and he made contact with both McLaughlin’s car and the wall. There wasn’t a huge amount of damage done, but both cars had to be towed back to Gasoline Alley and repaired in their respective garages.
Another odd incident involving a Penske occurred when Will Power was allowed out on the track with the driver cooling fan still attached to the cockpit. The 2018 Indy 500 winner completed one slow lap and returned to pitlane, where the fan fell off at the feet of Palou’s Ganassi crew.
By the time three hours was completed, 2008 Indy 500 winner Dixon was leading the pack on a 224.666mph lap, 0.7mph ahead of Ericsson, who was less than 0.2mph ahead of 2013 winner Kanaan, with Palou just a further 0.1mph adrift.
Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
Photo by: Phillip Abbott / Motorsport Images
McLaughlin recovered from the earlier farce to clock fifth-fastest lap ahead of Ferrucci, while Josef Newgarden (Penske) was ahead of top Andretti runner and 2016 Indy winner Alexander Rossi, Penske’s 2019 winner Simon Pagenaud and Andretti’s 2014 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay.
Several drivers have run four-lap qualifying simulations, and in the no-tow speeds, Jack Harvey’s Meyer Shank Racing-Honda has turned a 222.091mph, ahead of Pagenaud, Rossi, Power, Newgarden and the field’s only team owner/driver and three-time polesitter Ed Carpenter.
Weather allowing – and there is no rain forecast – action will conclude at 6pm local time.
This is the last time the cars will run their BorgWarner turbos at race boost – 1.3-bar – before being upped to 1.4-bar for Fast Friday and qualifying weekend.
Indy 500 - Day 3 practice results (halfway stage)
|
P |
No |
Name |
FTime |
Gap |
FL |
Laps |
FSpeed |
Engine |
Team |
|
1 |
9 |
Scott Dixon |
40.0595 |
0.000 |
23 |
27 |
224.666 |
Honda |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
|
2 |
8 |
Marcus Ericsson |
40.1865 |
0.1270 |
23 |
36 |
223.956 |
Honda |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
|
3 |
48 |
Tony Kanaan |
40.2175 |
0.0310 |
30 |
34 |
223.783 |
Honda |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
|
4 |
10 |
Alex Palou |
40.2362 |
0.0187 |
14 |
32 |
223.679 |
Honda |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
|
5 |
3 |
Scott McLaughlin |
40.2701 |
0.0339 |
20 |
21 |
223.491 |
Chevy |
Team Penske |
|
6 |
45 |
Santino Ferrucci |
40.3490 |
0.0789 |
16 |
27 |
223.054 |
Honda |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
|
7 |
2 |
Josef Newgarden |
40.3955 |
0.0465 |
29 |
32 |
222.797 |
Chevy |
Team Penske |
|
8 |
27 |
Alexander Rossi |
40.4655 |
0.0700 |
15 |
49 |
222.412 |
Honda |
Andretti Autosport |
|
9 |
22 |
Simon Pagenaud |
40.4741 |
0.0086 |
5 |
20 |
222.364 |
Chevy |
Team Penske |
|
10 |
28 |
Ryan Hunter-Reay |
40.4885 |
0.0144 |
40 |
57 |
222.285 |
Honda |
Andretti Autosport |
|
11 |
60 |
Jack Harvey |
40.5240 |
0.0355 |
19 |
66 |
222.091 |
Honda |
Meyer Shank Racing |
|
12 |
25 |
Stefan Wilson |
40.5763 |
0.0523 |
11 |
55 |
221.804 |
Honda |
Andretti Autosport |
|
13 |
15 |
Graham Rahal |
40.5866 |
0.0103 |
31 |
38 |
221.748 |
Honda |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
|
14 |
51 |
Pietro Fittipaldi |
40.6134 |
0.0268 |
22 |
24 |
221.602 |
Honda |
Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing |
|
15 |
06 |
Helio Castroneves |
40.6141 |
0.0007 |
34 |
35 |
221.598 |
Honda |
Meyer Shank Racing |
|
16 |
12 |
Will Power |
40.6182 |
0.0041 |
6 |
22 |
221.576 |
Chevy |
Team Penske |
|
17 |
30 |
Takuma Sato |
40.6405 |
0.0223 |
33 |
35 |
221.454 |
Honda |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
|
18 |
20 |
Ed Carpenter |
40.6478 |
0.0073 |
8 |
18 |
221.414 |
Chevy |
Ed Carpenter Racing |
|
19 |
24 |
Sage Karam |
40.6483 |
0.0005 |
20 |
34 |
221.411 |
Chevy |
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing |
|
20 |
98 |
Marco Andretti |
40.6506 |
0.0023 |
20 |
44 |
221.399 |
Honda |
Andretti Herta-Haupert w/Marco & Curb-Agajanian |
|
21 |
21 |
Rinus VeeKay |
40.6605 |
0.0099 |
22 |
24 |
221.345 |
Chevy |
Ed Carpenter Racing |
|
22 |
26 |
Colton Herta |
40.6799 |
0.0194 |
19 |
40 |
221.239 |
Honda |
Andretti Autosport |
|
23 |
47 |
Conor Daly |
40.6807 |
0.0008 |
11 |
32 |
221.235 |
Chevy |
Ed Carpenter Racing |
|
24 |
7 |
Felix Rosenqvist |
40.7325 |
0.0518 |
8 |
11 |
220.954 |
Chevy |
Arrow McLaren SP |
|
25 |
16 |
Simona De Silvestro |
40.7404 |
0.0079 |
35 |
43 |
220.911 |
Chevy |
Paretta Autosport |
|
26 |
5 |
Pato O'Ward |
40.7690 |
0.0286 |
11 |
19 |
220.756 |
Chevy |
Arrow McLaren SP |
|
27 |
59 |
Max Chilton |
40.8183 |
0.0493 |
20 |
35 |
220.489 |
Chevy |
Carlin |
|
28 |
29 |
James Hinchcliffe |
40.8243 |
0.0060 |
9 |
45 |
220.457 |
Honda |
Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport |
|
29 |
4 |
Dalton Kellett |
40.8663 |
0.0420 |
21 |
24 |
220.230 |
Chevy |
AJ Foyt Enterprises |
|
30 |
18 |
Ed Jones |
40.8670 |
0.0007 |
15 |
18 |
220.227 |
Honda |
Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan |
|
31 |
14 |
Sebastien Bourdais |
40.9411 |
0.0741 |
25 |
43 |
219.828 |
Chevy |
AJ Foyt Enterprises |
|
32 |
86 |
Juan Pablo Montoya |
40.9476 |
0.0065 |
2 |
9 |
219.793 |
Chevy |
Arrow McLaren SP |
|
33 |
11 |
Charlie Kimball |
41.1203 |
0.1727 |
18 |
25 |
218.870 |
Chevy |
AJ Foyt Enterprises |
|
34 |
1 |
JR Hildebrand |
41.2514 |
0.1311 |
27 |
29 |
218.174 |
Chevy |
AJ Foyt Enterprises |
|
35 |
75 |
RC Enerson |
41.3899 |
0.1385 |
8 |
36 |
217.444 |
Chevy |
Top Gun Racing |
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