Although six hours of testing was expected to resume at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Thursday at 10am local time, IndyCar already called off any activities after lingering showers and an unpromising forecast have forced an early end to the two-day event.
Rain also put an early end to Wednesday’s on-track running but not before an adjusted start time due to the anticipation of the poor weather, which allowed a field of 34 drivers to turn a total of 1,327 laps.
Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden, the reigning Indianapolis 500 winner, led the way with a flying lap of 228.811mph, which was aided with a tow in the morning session.
Despite it being only his second time in an Indy car at IMS, Kyle Larson was able to end the day second on the timesheets after a tow propelled him to a lap of 226.384 mph in the #17 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
The Chip Ganassi Racing duo of Scott Dixon and reigning champion Alex Palou, last year’s polesitter in the Indy 500, were third and fourth, respectively.
Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Photo by: Penske Entertainment
Meanwhile, Andretti Global’s Colton Herta’s lap of 225.907mph was the best in the shortened afternoon session, which was enough to place him fifth overall.
All six drivers – Marco Andretti, Katherine Legge, Pietro Fittipaldi, Christian Rasmussen, Nolan Siegel and Kyffin Simpson – were able to complete the Rookie Orientation programme and veteran refresher.
With the weather conditions prompting an early end to testing, the drivers and teams won’t return to IMS until 10-11 May for the race weekend on the road course.
Practice for this year’s edition of the Indy 500 is scheduled to start on Tuesday 14 May, with the race taking place on Sunday 26 May.
The next round of the 2024 IndyCar season is the Grand Prix of Long Beach on 21 April, following a five-week break between championship rounds which was punctuated by the non-points event at Thermal – which was won by Alex Palou.