For the second consecutive day, the changeable central Indiana weather cooperated and allowed all 34 IndyCar drivers to complete a full Indy 500 practice session on Friday afternoon.
The turbo boost pressures in everyone’s engines were turned up to simulate qualifying that will take place over the weekend, giving drivers about 100 more horsepower to play with, translating to roughly six miles per hour gained.
Drivers took turns simulating qualifying runs all afternoon, running four fast laps at a time if the car felt comfortable enough, attempting to keep away from the wake of everyone else.
There were multiple aspects to consider when evaluating who had the best car of the day, with comfort and speed being two of the most consequential.
The metric of outright fast lap was earned by Colton Herta, as he set the single fastest lap at an average of 234.974 MPH.
Surprisingly near the top of the pylon was NASCAR star and Indy 500 debutant Kyle Larson, with the talented racer setting the second fastest lap of the day despite never having experienced the higher boost levels before.
Herta’s fast lap was set with the assistance of a tow, intentional or not, and Josef Newgarden’s lap of 234.260 MPH was the fastest without another car on track in front breaking up the air.
Newgarden also set the fastest four-lap average, which is the most important metric of all and bodes well for last year’s Indy 500 champion heading into qualifying.
In fact, the four-lap average charts were thoroughly dominated by Team Penske. Newgarden was first, Scott McLaughlin was second, and Will Power was third on the simulated qualifying run charts.
A few drivers commented about how Chevrolet engines appear to have taken exceedingly well to the extra boost, and Team Penske in particular seem to have their setups on lockdown.
Overall, just under 1,000 laps were turned throughout the six-hour practice session, with Kyffin Simpson completing the most circuits of the 2.5-mile course at 46.
There were a few drivers that would have liked to run more laps than they did, including Takuma Sato who fought setup gremlins all afternoon and spent a lot of time waiting for his crew to make changes.
Alex Palou’s Honda engine expired in the middle of the afternoon, with smoke seen trailing from the back of the #10 CGR entry down the back stretch.
The reigning champion’s crew changed to a new engine quickly, and Palou was able to get back on track to complete a run with less than 20 minutes remaining.
There was one crash during the day, and rookie Nolan Siegel was the latest driver to learn what it is like to slide upside down on the speedway.
Siegel’s #18 Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing Honda wiggled just a bit while going through Turn 2.
The 19-year-old deftly caught the car, but a moment later the rear broke loose while he was half a lane high exiting the corner.
Siegel’s car spun around and made relatively light contact with the outside barriers, but then the rear lifted up and ended up sliding down the track resting on the Aeroscreen.
The AMR safety crew flipped the car over and the young driver was able to climb from the cockpit. He admitted after being released from the care center that he wasn’t quite sure why the car broke loose after the caught the first bobble.
The DCR crew was busy the rest of the day preparing a backup car, as the chassis was damaged enough in the contact to warrant a replacement.
One of the stranger incidents happened near the start of the afternoon’s running when a large snake tried to make its way across the track.
Unfortunately, Christian Rasmussen was making a run at the time, and the snake did not survive his trip to the other side of the road. A short yellow period was needed to clear it from the surface.
With mixed experiences up and down the pit lane, there will be some teams that will be much busier than others overnight.
Saturday morning has a quick, one-hour practice session scheduled before a lengthy qualifying run, which will lock in positions 10 through 30 ahead of Sunday’s bump session and pole shootout.
