Indy 500: Power tops opening day of practice

Team Penske’s Power, the 2018 Indy 500 winner, set a 226.470mph lap on his 35th of 57 laps around the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway to edge 2014 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay in his Andretti Autosport.

Behind them was defending and two-time winner Takuma Sato for Rahal Letterman Lanigan.

The Dreyer & Reinbold Racing entry of Sage Karam landed fourth place in the day’s final session, with Conor Daly in the Ed Carpenter Racing and 2019 winner Simon Pagenaud completing the top six.

Pato O’Ward, IndyCar’s Texas winner for Arrow McLaren SP, made it seven drivers under the 40 seconds barrier with a lap of 225.146mph ahead of 2008 Indy winner and reigning IndyCar champion Scott Dixon for the Chip Ganassi Racing squad.

Other former winners that looked strong were Dixon’s team-mate Tony Kanaan in 11th and Juan Pablo Montoya in the third Arrow McLaren SP in 12th.

In terms of no-tow speeds, Ed Carpenter and one of his team-mates Daly were first and third, split by Dixon, while Daly also owned the best trap speeds at Turns 1 and 3, and the start finish line (239mph).

Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda

Photo by: Geoffrey M. Miller / Motorsport Images

Earlier on the opening day, Graham Rahal topped the first session with a 223.449mph lap, to edge out six-time IndyCar champion Dixon, with rookie Scott McLaughlin heading up the Chevrolet-powered runners in third in the #3 Penske entry.

In the refreshers and rookie session, JR Hildebrand and Stefan Wilson completed their refresher tests without any major issues, but RC Enerson’s Top Gun Racing car suffered a mechanical failure while running his Rookie Orientation Programme.

Practice ahead of the 105th running of the Indy 500 resumes on Wednesday at 12pm local time, weather allowing, although the track will be open at 11am to allow Enerson to finish his Rookie Orientation Programme.

Results

P	No	Name	FTime	Diff	Gap	FL	Laps	FSpeed	Engine	Tire	Team
1	12	Will Power	39.7403	39.7403	0.000	35	57	226.470	Chevy	P	Team Penske
2	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	39.7578	0.0175	0.0175	22	43	226.371	Honda	P	Andretti Autosport
3	30	Takuma Sato	39.7998	0.0595	0.0420	13	58	226.132	Honda	P	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
4	24	Sage Karam	39.8332	0.0929	0.0334	31	43	225.942	Chevy	P	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
5	47	Conor Daly	39.8865	0.1462	0.0533	35	65	225.640	Chevy	P	Ed Carpenter Racing
6	22	Simon Pagenaud	39.9592	0.2189	0.0727	40	64	225.230	Chevy	P	Team Penske
7	5	Pato O'Ward	39.9740	0.2337	0.0148	35	56	225.146	Chevy	P	Arrow McLaren SP
8	9	Scott Dixon	40.0021	0.2618	0.0281	8	48	224.988	Honda	P	Chip Ganassi Racing
9	18	Ed Jones	40.0621	0.3218	0.0600	55	58	224.651	Honda	P	Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan
10	8	Marcus Ericsson	40.0686	0.3283	0.0065	49	55	224.615	Honda	P	Chip Ganassi Racing
11	48	Tony Kanaan	40.0725	0.3322	0.0039	56	58	224.593	Honda	P	Chip Ganassi Racing
12	86	Juan Pablo Montoya	40.1099	0.3696	0.0374	4	44	224.384	Chevy	P	Arrow McLaren SP
13	16	Simona De Silvestro	40.1373	0.3970	0.0274	52	71	224.230	Chevy	P	Paretta Autosport
14	2	Josef Newgarden	40.1714	0.4311	0.0341	9	37	224.040	Chevy	P	Team Penske
15	21	Rinus VeeKay	40.2158	0.4755	0.0444	42	69	223.793	Chevy	P	Ed Carpenter Racing
16	29	James Hinchcliffe	40.2180	0.4777	0.0022	30	67	223.780	Honda	P	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport
17	7	Felix Rosenqvist	40.2246	0.4843	0.0066	28	45	223.744	Chevy	P	Arrow McLaren SP
18	20	Ed Carpenter	40.2377	0.4974	0.0131	30	57	223.671	Chevy	P	Ed Carpenter Racing
19	98	Marco Andretti	40.2980	0.5577	0.0603	23	52	223.336	Honda	P	Andretti Herta-Haupert w/Marco & Curb-Agajanian
20	26	Colton Herta	40.2993	0.5590	0.0013	6	72	223.329	Honda	P	Andretti Autosport
21	06	Helio Castroneves	40.3480	0.6077	0.0487	26	44	223.059	Honda	P	Meyer Shank Racing
22	27	Alexander Rossi	40.3581	0.6178	0.0101	31	63	223.004	Honda	P	Andretti Autosport
23	10	Alex Palou	40.3792	0.6389	0.0211	12	53	222.887	Honda	P	Chip Ganassi Racing
24	11	Charlie Kimball	40.3938	0.6535	0.0146	25	36	222.806	Chevy	P	AJ Foyt Enterprises
25	3	Scott McLaughlin	40.4133	0.6730	0.0195	13	50	222.699	Chevy	P	Team Penske
26	15	Graham Rahal	40.4344	0.6941	0.0211	44	63	222.583	Honda	P	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
27	4	Dalton Kellett	40.4729	0.7326	0.0385	52	59	222.371	Chevy	P	AJ Foyt Enterprises
28	1	JR Hildebrand	40.4928	0.7525	0.0199	4	22	222.262	Chevy	P	AJ Foyt Enterprises
29	60	Jack Harvey	40.5199	0.7796	0.0271	34	56	222.113	Honda	P	Meyer Shank Racing
30	59	Max Chilton	40.5606	0.8203	0.0407	55	56	221.890	Chevy	P	Carlin
31	51	Pietro Fittipaldi	40.7657	1.0254	0.2051	46	52	220.774	Honda	P	Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing
32	45	Santino Ferrucci	40.7761	1.0358	0.0104	4	24	220.718	Honda	P	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
33	14	Sebastien Bourdais	40.8837	1.1434	0.1076	7	23	220.137	Chevy	P	AJ Foyt Enterprises
34	25	Stefan Wilson	41.1762	1.4359	0.2925	20	25	218.573	Honda	P	Andretti Autosport

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Indy 500: Power tops opening day of practice

Will Power led Ryan Hunter-Reay and Takuma Sato on the opening day of practice for the 2021 Indianapolis 500, as seven of the nine participating former winners filled the top 12.

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