Tag: Fast Friday

Penske in charge as the pace quickens on Fast Friday at IMS

Team Penske fired a warning shot across the paddock at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday with a 1-2-3 at the top of the timing screens as the field made their final preparations for Saturday’s opening day of qualifying for the Indy 500. Teams …

Team Penske fired a warning shot across the paddock at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday with a 1-2-3 at the top of the timing screens as the field made their final preparations for Saturday’s opening day of qualifying for the Indy 500.

Teams had extra boost worth roughly 100 additional horsepower, and Josef Newgarden was quick to make good use of it, laying down a 233mph lap in the opening three minutes of the session. That laid the foundations for a 233.259mph four-lap average that remained unbeaten until Newgarden went out later and improved it to 234.063mph in the No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet.

“You can’t get too excited on a day like today,” Newgarden said. “We’re testing, everybody’s testing, it counts when it counts. But I think we have fast cars — there’s no doubt we have to be somewhat pleased at what we’re looking at.

“Let’s not get excited about Fast Friday. We need to put the pieces together tomorrow and I think the car can do that. We just need to go through the motions. It’s going to be harder tomorrow, it’s going to be even harder on Sunday, so I think those are the things we really need to think about and game out what is our plan and how are we going to attack this, because there are no guarantees in IndyCar racing.”

Teammate Scott McLaughlin came closest with a 223.623mph four-lap run in the No. 3 car, leaving Will Power and the No. 12 entry third-fastest at 223.451mph. Arrow McLaren made it an all-Chevrolet top five, with Alexander Rossi (233.355mph) edging out Pato O’Ward (233.043mph).

While the Chevrolets looked to be a class apart in the opening three hours, Honda made its presence felt in the latter part of the afternoon, led by Meyer Shank’s Felix Rosenqvist (232.906mph) and Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood (232.983mph) finishing the day sixth and seventh fastest respectively. JHR’s Agustin Canapino and A.J. Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci were next, leaving Arrow McLaren’s Kyle Larson to round out the top 10 – and pick up fastest rookie honors – at 232.549mph.

“It was less than what I expected,” Larson said of the impact of the jump in speeds. “I expected it to feel like you’re going way faster than before, but surprisingly when the balance is OK but the grip is still there… It definitely feels faster, but it’s not scary fast, thankfully.

“I think our balance was pretty comfortable; I was happy about that. We had one run where we trimmed out some and the sun came out and I was like, ‘OK, maybe I can feel the rear being closer to the limit,’ but overall, happy with the day, happy with the speed. It’s hard to see where you’re at yet because every run there’s some bit of tow, but the balance seems comfortable. I didn’t feel like I have a lot of understeer — or tight, for any stock car racers listening — and I don’t feel super-loose either, so it’s pretty balanced.”

Larson also had the second-best single-lap speed of 234.271mph, beaten only by Andretti’s Colton Herta, whose 234.974mph lap was aided by a hefty – and unwanted – tow from Graham Rahal, who was released into the path of the No. 26 Honda mid-run.

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That battle for clear road became the main theme of the final hour, when pitlane was full of cars looking to squeeze in a final run ahead of Saturday.

That said, the final hour was still productive for some. Reigning series champion Alex Palou suffered what looked like an engine problem just after the three-hour mark, and after a 90-minute visit to the garage, the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda returned to the track with a new engine.

Takuma Sato spent the first half of the day cutting his runs short, and eventually returned to the garage where it was discovered that what he described as “a critical part” was missing from the car. Once that was rectified, the two-time winner’s day became more productive, if not particularly fast.

Similarly, Andretti’s Marcus Ericsson, who was in a backup car following his crash yesterday, spent a good part of the afternoon fighting balance issues before finally showing some signs of progress in his final runs, although once again, traffic prevented him from putting four laps together.

Elsewhere, Conor Daly will be among those facing an uneasy night after spending the day battling handling problems with the No. 24 Dreyer & Reinbold/Cusick Chevy that the team was unable to diagnose.

There are more serious concerns at Daly Coyne Racing, where Katherine Legge struggled to get the No. 51 Honda to behave to her liking, while next door in the garage the team is working to prepare the car that Luca Ghiotto raced in the Indy GP last week for Nolan Siegel, whose No. 18 Honda sustained serious damage in a crash early in the afternoon.

The rookie lost control late through Turn 2 and spun up into the SAFER barrier; the car spinning 180 degrees and hitting the wall again before launching skyward and landing upside-down in the middle of the track.

“I don’t know [what happened], to be honest,” a dejected Siegel said. “I had one snap of oversteer in the middle that I caught, and then turned back in and spun. I’m not exactly sure why. Disappointed. I feel bad for the team that’s been working so hard for so long for this, and I just kind of threw it away. so not happy at all about that one, but we’ll move forward and see if we can get back out and qualify for the race tomorrow.

“We’re probably going to have to go to the spare car and we don’t know exactly what that’s going to be. I’m fine, I feel like I can go back and have a chance at making the race at least. I’m fine, just apologies to everyone.”

RESULTS (SINGLE LAP)

RESULTS (SING LAP, NO TOW)

Newgarden leads halfway through Fast Friday at Indy

Josef Newgarden was the pacesetter as the six-hour Fast Friday session ticked past its halfway mark at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Teams have an additional 100hp of boost on tap ahead of the first day of qualifying tomorrow, and that extra power …

Josef Newgarden was the pacesetter as the six-hour Fast Friday session ticked past its halfway mark at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Teams have an additional 100hp of boost on tap ahead of the first day of qualifying tomorrow, and that extra power made its presence known within the first three minutes of the session when Newgarden broke the 233mph barrier with his first flying lap in the No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet.

He finished his run with a 233.259mph four-lap average, which remained unbeaten until he went out again and improved it to 234.063mph.

“You can’t get too excited on a day like today,” Newgarden said. “We’re testing, everybody’s testing, it counts when it counts. But I think we have fast cars — there’s no doubt we have to be somewhat pleased at what we’re looking at.

“Let’s not get excited about Fast Friday, we need to put the pieces together tomorrow and I think the car can do that. We just need to go through the motions. It’s going to be harder tomorrow, it’s going to be even harder on Sunday, so I think those are the things we really need to think about and game out what is our plan and how are we going to attack this, because there are no guarantees in IndyCar racing.”

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Penske had the top three spots on the timing screens locked out, with Will Power’s 233.172mph — set right at the end of the third hour — putting him just ahead of Scott McLaughlin’s 233.054mph run.

Alexander Rossi was next for Arrow McLaren with a four-lap average of 232.916mph, while a long period of Chevrolet domination was finally ended by Meyer Shank’s Felix Rosenqvist, who popped up fifth fastest after two-and-a-half hours of running with a four-lap average of 232.857mph.

Penske also had a 1-2-3 over a single lap, with Newgarden (234.260mph) leading McLaughlin (233.932mph) and Power (233,864mph), leaving Rossi (233,741mph) and Andretti’s Kyle Kirkwood (233.705) rounding out the top five.

The only significant incident came right around the 100-minute mark when DCR rookie Nolan Siegel crashed heavily at Turn 2. The No. 18 Honda was most of the way through the corner when the rear wiggled and sent him into the wall., the car spinning 180 degrees before becoming airborne and landing upside-down in the middle of the track. Siegel was unhurt, but the car was less fortunate. The team is now preparing the road course car used by Luca Ghiotto in last week’s Indy GP.

The session was under yellow once again just after the three-hour after smoke began to appear from the rear of Alex Palou’s No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

Fast Friday: Ganassi tops Penske in four-lap averages

With a respectful gentleman’s agreement appearing to prevail over Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the BorgWarner turbos got boosted to 1.5-bar, IndyCar teams were able to set representative simulations of four-lap qualifying runs for the 107th …

With a respectful gentleman’s agreement appearing to prevail over Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the BorgWarner turbos got boosted to 1.5-bar, IndyCar teams were able to set representative simulations of four-lap qualifying runs for the 107th running of the Indy 500.

With under 20 minutes to go in Fast Friday practice, it was two-time winner Takuma Sato who laid down a spectacular four-lap average. Unlike his effort at the start of the day’s session, which saw him produce a 234mph opening lap and then flirt a hair’s breadth away from the Turn 2 exit wall on lap two, the No. 11 Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda stayed under control the whole time and produced a four-lap average of 233.413mph.

That left Sato 0.3mph clear of defending race-winner and teammate Marcus Ericsson, although a late attempt by Scott Dixon to join them at the top of the table ended on his third lap and he came back to the pits.

Team Penske gave further evidence that, after three poor years at the Speedway, they are back in the game seeking their 19th triumph. Josef Newgarden at 233.086mph and 2018 winner Will Power at 233.070mph occupied third and fourth spots on the four-lap averages, despite their fastest single laps being only sixth and 12th respectively.

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Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay delivered the fifth best 4-lap average (232.898) ahead of the Andretti Autosport pair of Colton Herta – another late improver – and Kyle Kirkwood.

Agustin Canapino of Juncos Hollinger Racing was the fastest rookie, with a very impressive 15th-fastest four-lap average, while, as RACER reported earlier, the team is busy swapping chassis for teammate Callum Ilott after the British sophomore endured continued struggles with his original mount.

The Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing quartet of Katherine Legge, Christian Lundgaard, Graham Rahal and Jack Harvey are between P28 and P32 on the four-lap average rankings, the latter’s efforts not aided by an apparent blown engine in the dying minutes of the session. RC Enerson of Abel Motorsports propped up the field, but even his average was over 230mph.

The order in which everyone will make their first qualifying runs Saturday will be decided by Friday evening’s draw. There will be practice sessions Saturday morning, from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. local (Eastern) time, then qualifying will commence at 11:00 a.m., weather permitting. By the end of Saturday when the gun goes off, grid positions 13-30 will be locked in place, as will the 12 contestants for Sunday’s battle for pole, and the four participants for the last row of the grid.

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Speeds on the rise midway through Indy 500 Fast Friday

The strong single-lap speed that has been on show from Chip Ganassi Racing through the opening days of Indianapolis 500 practice held through the first three hours of running on Fast Friday, but the four-lap averages produced by some of their rivals …

The strong single-lap speed that has been on show from Chip Ganassi Racing through the opening days of Indianapolis 500 practice held through the first three hours of running on Fast Friday, but the four-lap averages produced by some of their rivals suggest that CGR will have a fight on its hands when qualifying begins tomorrow.

A 234.753mph lap by Takuma Sato 50 minutes into the session was enough to keep the two-time winner at the top of the speed charts as the afternoon ticked past the halfway mark, although the No. 11 crew came within a cigarette paper’s width of a very different kind of day when Sato’s right-rear swung impossibly close to the Turn 2 wall next time around.

But while making speed wasn’t a problem for the Ganassi squad, carrying it through four laps proved more challenging, with Sato, Scott Dixon and Marcus Ericsson all watching their pace drop off significantly towards the end of their simulated qualifying runs.

“It was a bit more of a handful than I would like,” 2022 Indy winner Marcus Ericsson told Peacock after his first run. “The first two laps pretty good, then the rears started to step out a little bit on lap three. I thought about bailing like other people did, but I like to do the whole four laps if I can. I just have to lift a little bit. To get the feeling on how the car, the tires behave on lap three and four, for me that’s valuable information. Lap three and four were not ideal, but (there was) good information for me and the team.”

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A stiff tailwind down the back stretch made things especially tricky, but a little cloud cover in the third hour delivered a slightly cooler track surface, and it became open season on the four-lap average charts as teams began to find their sweet spot.

Conor Daly set an early four-lap benchmark of 232.012mph in the No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, which held until Will Power rolled the No. 12 Team Penske Chevy out of the pits 80 minutes in and strung together a 233, a 232, a 232 and a 231 to raise the bar to 232.474mph.

“It was wide open for the four laps,” said Power. “The car has good balance, it was fast on the first lap — I’ve never seen a 233 (on the first lap) in my life, so I saw that come up and thought, ‘All right, we’ve got some speed.’ We’ll try some different aero configurations for the different weather conditions today and tomorrow, but not do much, honestly. We’re in a reasonable window. Don’t want to get into a tailspin.”

Forty-five minutes later, Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin was on track to better Power’s time until the Kiwi had to lift in Turn 3 on his final lap and settle for a still-quick 232.316mph run.

Shortly after that, ECR and Andretti Autosport came to play. Andretti’s Kyle Kirkwood reeled off a pair of 233mph laps backed up by a couple in the high-231mph range to string together a 232.613mph four-lap average that dethroned Power.

“I think the track is getting a little bit quicker as we get through the day,” Kirkwood said. “But we’re happy. We’re excited. We’re still making improvements and we can still get it better. We don’t think we’re at the limit yet.”

Minutes later, ECR’s Rinus VeeKay raised the four-lap benchmark to 232.898mph, which remained the standard as the session entered its second half. The Dutchman and his teammate and boss Ed Carpenter both intimated they’d learned all they’d needed to for the day, especially with sunnier conditions and a 180-degree change in wind direction on the cards for tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the encouraging signs for Andretti continued beyond Kirkwood, with Colton Herta popping up with the third-fastest four-lap average right near the end of the third hour — Herta reporting that there was still some room left to play with the car’s trim — while Marco Andretti overcame some handling problems in early part of the session to climb to seventh fastest on the four-lap times.

A few teams still had some work to do as the session headed into the late afternoon, including Juncos Hollinger, where rookie Agustin Canapino shouldered the bulk of the running in the No. 78 Chevrolet while Callum Ilott’s No. 77 completed just seven laps, and Rahal Letterman Lanigan, which appeared to be lacking outright pace across all three of its entries.

The first three hours of running passed without interruption aside from a brief yellow for a track inspection.

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