Indy 500: Dixon leads Ganassi 1-2-3-4 halfway through Day 3 practice

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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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.

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