Indy 500 Practice: Dixon on top in opening session for veterans
Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda’s five-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon set the pace in the first practice session for the 104th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.
Photo by: Barry Cantrell / Motorsport Images
The 2008 Indy winner lapped the iconic 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway at 224.047mph, some 0.85mph faster than Team Penske-Chevrolet’s two-time and reigning champion Josef Newgarden.
A.J. Foyt Racing-Chevrolet’s Tony Kanaan was the first driver to click past 220mph as the 2013 Indy winner drafted past Marcus Ericsson’s Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda 17 minutes into the two-hour session. He was soon edged by Dixon and 2016 winner Alexander Rossi, before another Foyt car went fastest, that of Charlie Kimball.
The 2018 winner Will Power sent Team Penske into the 221mph zone, and Dixon then towed up behind Colton Herta to click off a 222.
Marco Andretti came to a halt on pitlane entry with an electrical issue, bringing out the first caution of the day, not long after Marco’s temporary Andretti Autosport teammate James Hinchcliffe put his Genesys car at the top of the speed charts with a 223.071mph lap.
This held firm as fastest speed until the final 10 minutes when Josef Newgarden picked up a strong draft from a couple of cars to hit an average of 223.188mph around the iconic 2.5-mile Speedway. This was then thoroughly eclipsed by Dixon’s 224.047.
Behind this pair, Hinchcliffe retained third as fastest Andretti car ahead of Kanaan and Ryan Hunter-Reay who turned fastest no-tow speed at 219.7.
2017 winner Takuma Sato was seventh for Rahal Letterman Lanigan-Honda, while Zach Veach split two of the Ed Carpenter Racing machines.
Next up is two hours for Rookies and Refreshers.
RANK | CAR NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | ENGINE | FAST SPEED | TOTAL LAPS |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 9 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 224.047 | 36 |
2 | 1 | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | Chevy | 223.188 | 42 |
3 | 29 | James Hinchcliffe | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 223.071 | 13 |
4 | 14 | Tony Kanaan | AJ Foyt Enterprises | Chevy | 222.080 | 42 |
5 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 221.884 | 29 |
6 | 30 | Takuma Sato | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda | 221.838 | 34 |
7 | 20 | Ed Carpenter | Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevy | 221.813 | 40 |
8 | 12 | Will Power | Team Penske | Chevy | 221.634 | 43 |
9 | 26 | Zach Veach | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 221.359 | 47 |
10 | 47 | Conor Daly | Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevy | 221.234 | 32 |
11 | 15 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda | 221.036 | 45 |
12 | 45 | Spencer Pigot | RLL with Citrone/Buhl Autosport | Honda | 220.999 | 44 |
13 | 88 | Colton Herta | Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport | Honda | 220.941 | 34 |
14 | 27 | Alexander Rossi | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 220.930 | 25 |
15 | 4 | Charlie Kimball | AJ Foyt Enterprises | Chevy | 220.662 | 48 |
16 | 18 | Santino Ferrucci | Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan | Honda | 220.339 | 37 |
17 | 60 | Jack Harvey | Meyer Shank Racing | Honda | 220.267 | 34 |
18 | 22 | Simon Pagenaud | Team Penske | Chevy | 220.135 | 40 |
19 | 98 | Marco Andretti | Andretti Herta with Marco & Curb-Agajanian | Honda | 220.028 | 28 |
20 | 8 | Marcus Ericsson | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 219.694 | 43 |
21 | 10 | Felix Rosenqvist | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 219.561 | 9 |
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments