Photo of Josef Newgarden by Joe Skibinski, Indycar

On a day that I wish we could save for may, 31 cars hopeful of making the field for the 105th running of the Indianapolis 500 completed the second day of open testing. Josef Newgarden, two time NTT Indtcar Series champion, had the quickest time of the two days, 226.819 miles an hour.

The first hour of the morning allowed the rookies, Pietro Fittipaldi and Cody Ware, to complete their rookie tests, and the drivers who needed to complete their refresher tests to co mplete their two phase runs.

Conor Daly led the veterans session from 10-11 before all cars were turned loose on the track. The day was interrupted twice for brief rain sprinkles and the afternoon action stopped for some track inspections.

Newgarden summed up his day in a zoom call with media after the session finished.

“It was a pretty good day,” Newgarden said. “I was happy enough with the car. I think we still need some work, for sure, but to just get an initial read on where we’re at is good. Obviously, there are a lot of new parts and differences to the last couple of years, so we’re just trying to assess what we need to really work on these last couple of weeks before we get back here in May. But I’m pretty happy.”

He responded to questions about the duifference between this year’s car and last year’s car. he likes the changes and thinks the racing will be better.

“Yes, definitely. It’s easier to follow. It’s still tough. You’ll still get a big front wash in traffic. 10 cars back, it’s always going to b e difficult. But I think they’ve made the ability to follow better. That balance separation between clean air and dirty air is definitely reduced.Some of them are tricky to drive, some of these parts. I think you’re seeing some split camps here along pit lane. Not everybody is running the same stuff. That’s been interesting to watch. There’s more downforce on the car. I think the balance shift in traffic is less.Yeah, the ability that we’re going to have to race compared to last year will be better.

I think you have a better opportunity this year looking at the amount of downforce we have, the balance shift in and out of traffic. I think you have a better opportunity to fight for the win in the third or fourth car inline.I think more than that, you are a quick car during the race,you somehow find yourself in the back, I think you have abetter opportunity of making your way forward. Those two elements will automatically help the show. But you don’t want to have it so easy where we’re packed up the entire field the entire time. I think that’s something that you would want to avoid.It’s a balancing act. I think it will be a lot better than last year as far as the ability to race up front. Time will tell. But I think you’ll have a better show.”

Juan Pablo Montoya, two time Indianapolis 500 is returning to the race after a three year absence. He gave his thoughts on the Arrow McLaren SP Chevy he drove in the test to the Indycar he last drove.

“They’re a little harder to drive, I think. I think the difference between clear air and dirty air is a little bigger. I think the changes from what INDYCAR did, from what everybody says, it’s a little harder as before, but not that bad.”

As for adjusting to the aeroscreen, Montoya felt the aeroscreen was similar to the sports cars he drove the last three years.

“It wasn’t too bad to get used to it. I thought it would be a little more intrusive. It’s definitely a pain in the butt to get in and out of the car, and it’s a lot hotter. I know like here it hasn’t been that bad in the oval. I did a test in Laguna. In a road course, you don’t get a lotof air. That was kind of shocking.Yeah, I mean, it’s kind of weird because, like, you’re really in a little bubble. It feels a little bit once you’re driving like a sports car.”

Notes

Andretti Autosport seemed to be struggling a bit as they did last year. The team did not have a driver in the top 10 today.

Takuma Sato and Graham Rahal look to be right wher they were last year with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Sato won the 2020 race and Rahal finished third.

Montoya and Helio Castroneves were quick in their first outing in cars not owned by Roger Penske. It’s still odd seeing them in non-Penske cars.

Arrow McLaren SP could be a factor in the 500 as well as during the rest of the season. Montoya’s input should help push the team up a notch this year.

Today’s results, followed by the no tow time sheet:

RANK	CAR NO.	DRIVER	TEAM	ENGINE	SPEED	LAPS
1	2	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	Chevy	226.819	121
2	30	Takuma Sato	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	226.396	60
3	86	Juan Pablo Montoya	Arrow McLaren SP	Chevy	226.123	68
4	9	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	225.906	126
5	15	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	225.644	157
6	47	Conor Daly	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevy	225.639	137
7	12	Will Power	Team Penske	Chevy	225.501	162
8	60	Jack Harvey	Meyer Shank Racing	Honda	225.266	140
9	5	Pato O’Ward	Arrow McLaren SP	Chevy	225.118	156
10	6	Helio Castroneves	Meyer Shank Racing	Honda	225.074	128
11	22	Simon Pagenaud	Team Penske	Chevy	225.001	184
12	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	Honda	224.949	134
13	26	Colton Herta	Andretti Autosport	Honda	224.203	164
14	20	Ed Carpenter	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevy	224.146	146
15	10	Alex Palou	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	224.134	112
16	7	Felix Rosenqvist	Arrow McLaren SP	Chevy	223.973	126
17	18	Ed Jones	Dale Coyne Racing With Vasser-Sullivan	Honda	223.905	104
18	3	Scott McLaughlin	Team Penske	Chevy	223.808	195
19	27	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Autosport	Honda	223.636	136
20	45	Santino Ferrucci	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	223.519	137
21	16	Simona De Silvestro	Paretta Autosport	Chevy	223.458	92
22	29	James Hinchcliffe	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport	Honda	223.458	127
23	48	Tony Kanaan	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	223.101	99
24	24	Sage Karam	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Chevy	223.095	81
25	98	Marco Andretti	Andretti Herta-Haupert w/Marco & Curb-Agajanian	Honda	222.815	138
26	14	Sebastien Bourdais	AJ Foyt Enterprises	Chevy	222.627	125
27	59	Max Chilton	Carlin	Chevy	222.258	114
28	8	Marcus Ericsson	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	222.135	188
29	51	Pietro Fittipaldi	Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing	Honda	221.943	144
30	4	Dalton Kellett	AJ Foyt Enterprises	Chevy	220.196	97
31	52	Cody Ware	Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing	Honda	218.438	58

Indianapolis 500 test – Friday all-skate – no-tow timesheet

RANK	CAR NO.	DRIVER	TEAM	ENGINE	SPEED
1	15	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	221.549
2	3	Scott McLaughlin	Team Penske	Chevy	221.153
3	27	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Autosport	Honda	220.889
4	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	Honda	220.490
5	12	Will Power	Team Penske	Chevy	220.405
6	20	Ed Carpenter	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevy	220.263
7	26	Colton Herta	Andretti Autosport	Honda	220.242
8	22	Simon Pagenaud	Team Penske	Chevy	220.099
9	59	Max Chilton	Carlin	Chevy	219.922
10	60	Jack Harvey	Meyer Shank Racing	Honda	219.881
11	7	Felix Rosenqvist	Arrow McLaren SP	Chevy	219.670
12	2	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	Chevy	219.668
13	5	Pato O’Ward	Arrow McLaren SP	Chevy	219.621
14	9	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	219.558
15	98	Marco Andretti	Andretti Herta-Haupert w/Marco & Curb-Agajanian	Honda	219.518
16	14	Sebastien Bourdais	AJ Foyt Enterprises	Chevy	219.293
17	30	Takuma Sato	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	219.175
18	4	Dalton Kellett	AJ Foyt Enterprises	Chevy	219.174
19	6	Helio Castroneves	Meyer Shank Racing	Honda	219.027
20	24	Sage Karam	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Chevy	218.431
21	47	Conor Daly	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevy	218.424
22	29	James Hinchcliffe	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport	Honda	218.014
23	8	Marcus Ericsson	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	217.991
24	16	Simona De Silvestro	Paretta Autosport	Chevy	217.880
25	10	Alex Palou	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	217.670
26	51	Pietro Fittipaldi	Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing	Honda	217.619
27	86	Juan Pablo Montoya	Arrow McLaren SP	Chevy	217.600
28	48	Tony Kanaan	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	217.563
29	45	Santino Ferrucci	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	217.068
30	18	Ed Jones	Dale Coyne Racing With Vasser-Sullivan	Honda	216.992
31	52	Cody Ware	Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing	Honda	215.776