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.

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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