The two-time IndyCar champion lapped the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway at 227.686mph, 0.9mph ahead of 2008 Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon.
That’s the way it remained until very late in the session when 1Conor Daly sprung into the 227s, laying down a 227.466mph lap in his Ed Carpenter Racing entry.
Behind Dixon was Long Beach winner Kyle Kirkwood, who was fourth fastest for Andretti Autosport ahead of double Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato for Chip Ganassi Racing.
With the second day of testing forecast to be blighted by showers, the track was very busy as teams plowed through their nine-set Firestone tyre allocation.
The pressure to get as much of Friday’s work done on Thursday meant the drivers felt compelled to hit the track even though conditions were far from ideal, as strong headwinds along the front straight, tail winds on the back straight, and gusts of up to 30mph hit the circuit.
Tony Kanaan, Arrow McLaren-Chevrolet
Photo by: IndyCar Series
One of the busiest drivers was Stefan Wilson, preparing for his fifth Indianapolis 500, who turned well over 100 laps of the 2.5-mile oval in the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing with Cusick Motorsports entry, and he finished the day sixth, ahead of Colton Herta (Andretti) and Alex Palou (Ganassi).
Another late improvement came from last year’s Indy 500 runner-up, Pato O’Ward, who slotted his Arrow McLaren car into ninth ahead of Scott McLaughlin (Penske).
Marco Andretti (Andretti), David Malukas of Dale Coyne Racing and 2018 winner Will Power (Penske) were next up, with returning 2014 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay 14th in the second Dreyer & Reinbold machine.
The 2013 winner, Tony Kanaan, preparing for his last ever IndyCar race, was 15th for Arrow McLaren.
Callum Ilott turned only 10 laps, his best of which was only 212mph. He stopped early, having found his Juncos Hollinger Racing entry too difficult to drive.
The busiest driver of the day was defending Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson, who lapped the course 120 times in his #8 Chip Ganassi Racing car.
Tomorrow’s action is supposed to begin at 10.00am ET and run through until 4.00pm.
Indy 500 testing: Day one times
|
P |
Name |
FTime |
Diff |
FL |
Laps |
FSpeed |
Engine |
Team |
|
1 |
Josef Newgarden |
39.5281 |
39.5281 |
52 |
93 |
227.686 |
Chevy |
Team Penske |
|
2 |
Conor Daly |
39.5664 |
0.0383 |
114 |
119 |
227.466 |
Chevy |
Ed Carpenter Racing |
|
3 |
Scott Dixon |
39.6846 |
0.1565 |
14 |
58 |
226.788 |
Honda |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
|
4 |
Kyle Kirkwood |
39.6954 |
0.1673 |
38 |
43 |
226.727 |
Honda |
Andretti Autosport |
|
5 |
Takuma Sato |
39.7764 |
0.2483 |
20 |
48 |
226.265 |
Honda |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
|
6 |
Stefan Wilson |
39.8300 |
0.3019 |
26 |
106 |
225.960 |
Chevy |
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing |
|
7 |
Colton Herta |
39.8347 |
0.3066 |
22 |
29 |
225.934 |
Honda |
Andretti Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian |
|
8 |
Alex Palou |
39.8471 |
0.3190 |
94 |
96 |
225.863 |
Honda |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
|
9 |
Pato O’Ward |
39.9020 |
0.3739 |
73 |
79 |
225.553 |
Chevy |
Arrow McLaren |
|
10 |
Scott McLaughlin |
39.9126 |
0.3845 |
22 |
109 |
225.493 |
Chevy |
Team Penske |
|
11 |
Marco Andretti |
39.9505 |
0.4224 |
14 |
23 |
225.279 |
Honda |
Andretti |
|
12 |
David Malukas |
39.9713 |
0.4432 |
88 |
91 |
225.162 |
Honda |
Dale Coyne Racing with HMD |
|
13 |
Will Power |
39.9720 |
0.4439 |
17 |
85 |
225.158 |
Chevy |
Team Penske |
|
14 |
Ryan Hunter-Reay |
40.0065 |
0.4784 |
41 |
59 |
224.963 |
Chevy |
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing |
|
15 |
Tony Kanaan |
40.0371 |
0.5090 |
29 |
40 |
224.792 |
Chevy |
Arrow McLaren |
|
16 |
Ed Carpenter |
40.0547 |
0.5266 |
61 |
91 |
224.693 |
Chevy |
Ed Carpenter Racing |
|
17 |
Simon Pagenaud |
40.0790 |
0.5509 |
21 |
47 |
224.557 |
Honda |
Meyer Shank Racing |
|
18 |
Marcus Ericsson |
40.0824 |
0.5543 |
90 |
120 |
224.537 |
Honda |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
|
19 |
Helio Castroneves |
40.2423 |
0.7142 |
74 |
75 |
223.645 |
Honda |
Meyer Shank Racing |
|
20 |
Felix Rosenqvist |
40.2657 |
0.7376 |
52 |
87 |
223.515 |
Chevy |
Arrow McLaren |
|
21 |
Romain Grosjean |
40.2692 |
0.7411 |
51 |
54 |
223.496 |
Honda |
Andretti Autosport |
|
22 |
Alexander Rossi |
40.3052 |
0.7771 |
67 |
73 |
223.296 |
Chevy |
Arrow McLaren |
|
23 |
Graham Rahal |
40.3156 |
0.7875 |
38 |
81 |
223.239 |
Honda |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
|
24 |
Rinus VeeKay |
40.3162 |
0.7881 |
87 |
112 |
223.235 |
Chevy |
Ed Carpenter Racing |
|
25 |
Santino Ferrucci |
40.3548 |
0.8267 |
41 |
72 |
223.022 |
Chevy |
AJ Foyt Enterprises |
|
26 |
Christian Lundgaard |
40.4132 |
0.8851 |
11 |
111 |
222.700 |
Honda |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
|
27 |
Agustin Canapino |
40.5109 |
0.9828 |
14 |
38 |
222.162 |
Chevy |
Juncos Holling Racing |
|
28 |
Jack Harvey |
40.5163 |
0.9882 |
80 |
98 |
222.133 |
Honda |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
|
29 |
Sting Ray Robb |
40.5799 |
1.0518 |
71 |
73 |
221.785 |
Honda |
Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR |
|
30 |
Devlin DeFrancesco |
40.6661 |
1.1380 |
16 |
36 |
221.315 |
Honda |
Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport |
|
31 |
Katherine Legge |
40.8881 |
1.3600 |
3 |
33 |
220.113 |
Honda |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
|
32 |
Benjamin Pedersen |
40.8889 |
1.3608 |
5 |
62 |
220.109 |
Chevy |
AJ Foyt Enterprises |
|
33 |
Callum Ilott |
42.3990 |
2.8709 |
3 |
10 |
212.269 |
Chevy |
Juncos Hollinger Racing |