Ericsson fastest in Thursday practice at 229.6mph

Ericsson lapped the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in 39.1974s, at a speed of 229.607mph in his Honda-powered Chip Ganassi Racing car.

He led fellow Indy 500 victors Scott Dixon (his Ganassi team-mate), Simon Pagenaud (Meyer Shank Racing) and Team Penske’s Will Power in the six-hour session.

Teams started the day in qualifying trim in perfect weather conditions, with Ericsson setting the early pace at 226.930mph, his CGR-Honda running behind a trio of Arrow McLaren Chevys.

McLaren’s Alexander Rossi took P1 for a moment with 227.713mph before another Ganassi driver Alex Palou – who was running behind those four cars – pipped him with 227.718mph.

Ericsson then produced his huge lap of 229.607mph in the tow after 45 minutes, with McLaren’s Pato O’Ward going P2 with 227.734mph.

Teams then focused on race runs for the majority of the afternoon, although Dixon leapt up to P2 on 229.186mph when he got a good tow with a couple of hours remaining. Conor Daly moved to third for Ed Carpenter Racing at 228.215mph, in front of yesterday’s pacesetter Takuma Sato (CGR).

As the final ‘Happy Hour’ unfolded, the cars packed up once more to give strong tows. Pagenaud jumped to P3 with 228.681mph, ahead of Will Power’s 228.577mph – the latter the fastest Chevrolet-powered runner among a Honda-packed top five.

But nobody else was able to get into the 229mph bracket to rival Ganassi’s top two. Colton Herta took fifth place for Andretti Autosport at 228.240mph, ahead of Daly, Sato, O’Ward, Palou and Rossi.

Like yesterday’s session, there were very little incidents to report apart from O’Ward almost getting taken out by RC Enerson (Abel Motorsports), who veered off the track onto the apron at racing speed before Turn 1 and into the pitlane exit, just as the McLaren driver was leaving. Fortunately, no contact was made – but it was reported that Enerson had lost contact with his spotter.

O’Ward said: “I’m sure he didn’t do it on purpose but that was definitely a close one! Exiting pitlane I was not expecting that. He must’ve seen me, and I know these oval cars are difficult to stop, but that could’ve been nasty for sure.”

In the no-tow charts, Ericsson set a late 224.414mph to lead Power (224.283mph) and Santino Ferrucci (AJ Foyt Racing) on 224.277mph.

Practice resumes on Friday in Indy at noon, local time, for another six hours of running. Fast Friday, as it is known, sees the BorgWarner turbos common to the Honda and Chevrolet engines get wound up from 1.3-bar boost to 1.5-bar, a level at which they’ll remain until the end of qualifying on Sunday evening.