Power tops first day of Indy 500 practice

The first day of practice for the 105th running of the Indianapolis 500 is in the books, and it was Will Power who put in the fastest lap of the day in his Team Penske Chevrolet.

Speeds built throughout the afternoon, and Power’s fastest speed of 226.470 came in the last hour of the day.

The 2018 Indy 500 champion relayed that on the TV broadcast that he was the “most comfortable I’ve felt here in a while,” setting the stage for him to be an early favorite.

Hunter-Reay was close behind, with a lap averaging 226.371 MPH, and last year’s Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato ended the day third on the timesheets as the only other driver to crack the 226 MPH barrier.

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The fastest no-tow speed, which is measured as a driver that was over three seconds behind any other car, was set by Ed Carpenter.  The no-tow speed will become ever more important as this weekend’s qualifying approaches.

Jack Harvey’s bad luck continued as the Honda engine in his Meyer Shank Racing entry had to be replaced after just a few laps of morning running.

He was able to get back out for the afternoon session, however, and completed 56 laps before the end of the day.

Sebastien Bourdais’s day ended a little early due to an oil leak that caused a small fire at the rear of the car.  The AJ Foyt team should be able to easily repair the car for tomorrow’s running.

Rain Delays

The weather threated to put a stop to the action throughout the day, and it was successful in bringing out the yellow for a couple hours throughout the morning and early afternoon.

The first practice session was halted multiple times for rain, but the delays were not lengthy as the showers moved through quickly.

Graham Rahal was fastest in the morning session, but was only able to complete a lap at 223.449 MPH in the humid and breezy conditions.

In the afternoon session, nearly everyone hit the track for the final two hours of running.  By that time the track had warmed and was much more representative of expected qualifying conditions.

Overall, there was over five hours of green flag running out of the planned seven hours of track time on the first day of practice leading up to qualifying next weekend.

Rookie Orientation

Three drivers had to go through the Rookie Orientation Program in order to be allowed on track with the rest of the field.

Drivers who have not competed at the 230 MPH speeds of the Indianapolis oval recently – or at all – are required to run a few slower laps to prove to the series they are capable of handling the high speeds.

Two hours were set aside in the afternoon for Stefan Wilson, JR Hildebrand, and RC Enerson to complete some laps at a reduced speed and build their confidence behind the wheel.

Once each driver completed the required laps below 215 MPH, they were allowed to run at full speed and were also eligible to run in future open practice sessions with the rest of the field.

Wilson and Hildebrand completed their refresher program, but Enerson was not able to run enough laps on account of a driveshaft issue that sent the car to the garage.

Enerson, who is driving for the brand new Top Gun Racing team, will have to complete the last few laps of his orientation program in the coming days before being allowed to qualify on Saturday afternoon.

Tomorrow’s schedule calls for six more hours of open practice, but rain will once again threaten the area throughout the day.

The afternoon session’s times are below: