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Newgarden pips Sato to lead second day of Indy 500 testing

Two-time IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden topped the second day of testing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, heading Indianapolis 500-winning trio Takuma Sato, Juan Pablo Montoya and Scott Dixon.

Josef Newgarden Team Penske Chevrolet

Josef Newgarden Team Penske Chevrolet

Barry Cantrell / Motorsport Images

The Team Penske driver's top speed of 226.819mph was 2.392mph quicker than the fastest effort on Thursday, a 224.427mph achieved by Sebastien Bourdais in the rookies and refreshers session.

Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan) and Will Power (Penske) were the first to break into the 225mph bracket around the 2.5-mile oval, but this was exceeded by Newgarden's 39.6792s lap.

“It was a pretty good day,” Newgarden said.

“I was happy enough with the car. I think we still need some work, for sure, but to just get an initial read on where we’re at is good.

"Obviously, there are a lot of new parts and differences to the last couple of years, so we’re just trying to assess what we need to really work on these last couple of weeks before we get back here in May. But I’m pretty happy.”

He was later joined in that stratosphere by two-time Indy winner Montoya, making his return to IMS for the first time since 2017 in a third Arrow McLaren SP entry carrying a tribute livery to mark 50 years since Peter Revson's 1971 pole lap in the McLaren M16.

However, Montoya was displaced by another defending Indy winner Sato (RLL), whose best effort was just 0.0742 shy of Newgarden's best.

Reigning champion Dixon, the 2008 Indy winner, was fourth for Chip Ganassi Racing ahead of Rahal - who set the best lap without the aid of a tow, a 221.949 effort. Second on that chart went to Penske’s rookie Scott McLaughlin, who also turned the most laps of the day, 195 – almost a complete race distance.

Takuma Sato,  Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda

Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda

Photo by: Barry Cantrell / Motorsport Images

Conor Daly eclipsed his earlier best to vault into sixth place for Ed Carpenter Racing ahead of Power, while Meyer Shank Racing drivers Jack Harvey and three-time Indy winner Helio Castroneves both get into the top 10 overall, either side of ninth-placed Pato O'Ward (Arrow McLaren SP).

IndyCar returnees Santino Ferrucci (RLL) and Simona De Silvestro (Paretta Autosport) were 20th and 21st in the overall speeds, and 29th and 24th respectively in the no-tow charts.

P

No

Name

Time

Diff

Laps

Speed

Engine

Team

1

2

Josef Newgarden

39.6792

0.000

121

226.819

Chevy

Team Penske

2

30

Takuma Sato

39.7534

0.0742

60

226.396

Honda

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

3

86

Juan Pablo Montoya

39.8013

0.1221

68

226.123

Chevy

Arrow McLaren SP

4

9

Scott Dixon

39.8395

0.1603

126

225.906

Honda

Chip Ganassi Racing

5

15

Graham Rahal

39.8859

0.2067

157

225.644

Honda

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

6

47

Conor Daly

39.8868

0.2076

137

225.639

Chevy

Ed Carpenter Racing

7

12

Will Power

39.9112

0.2320

162

225.501

Chevy

Team Penske

8

60

Jack Harvey

39.9527

0.2735

140

225.266

Honda

Meyer Shank Racing

9

5

Pato O'Ward

39.9790

0.2998

156

225.118

Chevy

Arrow McLaren SP

10

06

Helio Castroneves

39.9868

0.3076

128

225.074

Honda

Meyer Shank Racing

11

22

Simon Pagenaud

39.9999

0.3207

184

225.001

Chevy

Team Penske

12

28

Ryan Hunter-Reay

40.0091

0.3299

134

224.949

Honda

Andretti Autosport

13

26

Colton Herta

40.1422

0.4630

164

224.203

Honda

Andretti Autosport

14

20

Ed Carpenter

40.1524

0.4732

146

224.146

Chevy

Ed Carpenter Racing

15

10

Alex Palou

40.1545

0.4753

112

224.134

Honda

Chip Ganassi Racing

16

7

Felix Rosenqvist

40.1835

0.5043

126

223.973

Chevy

Arrow McLaren SP

17

18

Ed Jones

40.1956

0.5164

104

223.905

Honda

Dale Coyne Racing

18

3

Scott McLaughlin

40.2131

0.5339

195

223.808

Chevy

Team Penske

19

27

Alexander Rossi

40.2440

0.5648

136

223.636

Honda

Andretti Autosport

20

45

Santino Ferrucci

40.2650

0.5858

137

223.519

Honda

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

21

16

Simona De Silvestro

40.2760

0.5968

92

223.458

Chevy

Paretta Autosport

22

29

James Hinchcliffe

40.2760

0.5968

127

223.458

Honda

Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport

23

48

Tony Kanaan

40.3404

0.6612

99

223.101

Honda

Chip Ganassi Racing

24

24

Sage Karam

40.3415

0.6623

81

223.095

Chevy

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing

25

98

Marco Andretti

40.3923

0.7131

138

222.815

Honda

Andretti Herta-Haupert w/Marco & Curb-Agajanian

26

14

Sebastien Bourdais

40.4263

0.7471

125

222.627

Chevy

AJ Foyt Enterprises

27

59

Max Chilton

40.4935

0.8143

114

222.258

Chevy

Carlin

28

8

Marcus Ericsson

40.5159

0.8367

188

222.135

Honda

Chip Ganassi Racing

29

51

Pietro Fittipaldi

40.5509

0.8717

144

221.943

Honda

Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing

30

4

Dalton Kellett

40.8727

1.1935

97

220.196

Chevy

AJ Foyt Enterprises

31

52

Cody Ware

41.2017

1.5225

58

218.438

Honda

Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing

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