Photo: James Black, Indycar

Will Power ran the fastest lap on the opening day of practice for the 105th running of the Indianapolis 500. with a speed of 226.470 late in the afternoon portion of the day. The fist two hours of veteran practice had two rain interruptions in the first hour, and a third stoppage near the end of the session. Practice never restarted. The Rookie and refresher tests, scheduled to begin at noon suffered a two hour delay.

Graham Rahal led the early practice round. Stefan Wilson and J. R. Hildebrand completed their refresher tests. R. C. Enerson still has one phase to complete of his rookie test due to a mechanical issue. Indycar will allow him to finish the test at 11 am tomorrow, ahead of the noon start of the six hour practice period.

Power was asked if he felt casrs would be able to follow more closely and have more opportunities to pass this year. He thinks so

“…as far as stuck in traffic I felt pretty good just running with two or three cars in front. Felt more comfortable than I have for awhile.That was promising, and yeah, I think cooler conditions can make everything feel pretty good. I think when the heat comes it’ll certainly change everything and become harder to follow.I think adding that downforce is certainly going to help theracing. I think you’re going to have one of the old style races where the front three are just swapping positions constantly because you can follow so close now. I think,yeah, it’s good for the fans,” Power answered.

Today’s results:

Rank Car Driver Name C/E/T Session Time Speed Total Laps
1 12 Power, Will D/C/F Practice 2 00:39.7403 226.470 87
2 28 Hunter-Reay, Ryan D/H/F Practice 2 00:39.7578 226.371 55
3 30 Sato, Takuma D/H/F Practice 2 00:39.7998 226.132 76
4 24 Karam, Sage D/C/F Practice 2 00:39.8332 225.942 69
5 47 Daly, Conor D/C/F Practice 2 00:39.8865 225.640 82
6 22 Pagenaud, Simon D/C/F Practice 2 00:39.9592 225.230 81
7 5 O’Ward, Pato D/C/F Practice 2 00:39.9740 225.146 78
8 9 Dixon, Scott D/H/F Practice 2 00:40.0021 224.988 68
9 18 Jones, Ed D/H/F Practice 2 00:40.0621 224.651 77
10 8 Ericsson, Marcus D/H/F Practice 2 00:40.0686 224.615 85
11 48 Kanaan, Tony D/H/F Practice 2 00:40.0725 224.593 68
12 86 Montoya, Juan Pablo D/C/F Practice 2 00:40.1099 224.384 63
13 16 De Silvestro, Simona D/C/F Practice 2 00:40.1373 224.230 81
14 2 Newgarden, Josef D/C/F Practice 2 00:40.1714 224.040 48
15 21 VeeKay, Rinus D/C/F Practice 2 00:40.2158 223.793 82
16 29 Hinchcliffe, James D/H/F Practice 2 00:40.2180 223.780 78
17 7 Rosenqvist, Felix D/C/F Practice 2 00:40.2246 223.744 63
18 20 Carpenter, Ed D/C/F Practice 2 00:40.2377 223.671 69
19 15 Rahal, Graham D/H/F Practice 1 00:40.2776 223.449 82
20 98 Andretti, Marco D/H/F Practice 2 00:40.2980 223.336 73
21 26 Herta, Colton D/H/F Practice 2 00:40.2993 223.329 84
22 06 Castroneves, Helio D/H/F Practice 2 00:40.3480 223.059 63
23 27 Rossi, Alexander D/H/F Practice 2 00:40.3581 223.004 74
24 10 Palou, Alex D/H/F Practice 2 00:40.3792 222.887 71
25 3 McLaughlin, Scott (R) D/C/F Practice 1 00:40.3885 222.836 68
26 11 Kimball, Charlie D/C/F Practice 2 00:40.3938 222.806 36
27 4 Kellett, Dalton D/C/F Practice 2 00:40.4729 222.371 61
28 1 Hildebrand, JR D/C/F Practice 2 00:40.4928 222.262 22
29 45 Ferrucci, Santino D/H/F Practice 1 00:40.5034 222.204 42
30 60 Harvey, Jack D/H/F Practice 2 00:40.5199 222.113 56
31 59 Chilton, Max D/C/F Practice 2 00:40.5606 221.890 70
32 51 Fittipaldi, Pietro (R) D/H/F Practice 2 00:40.7657 220.774 80
33 14 Bourdais, Sebastien D/C/F Practice 1 00:40.8402 220.371 38
34 25 Wilson, Stefan D/H/F Practice 2 00:41.1762 218.573 25
Total Laps for Combined Sessions: 2255

Notes

As wonderful as Saturday was, watching the cars on the oval in mid May was the most welcome sight yet. Everything was as I remembered- the blur of colors whizzing by, the smell of ethanol, the vibration of the fences, the hustle bustle of each team running, stopping, for adjustments, and going out again- and it made me happy. There are even better days to come.

On my walk through Gasoline Alley I noticed two women working on the Paretta Autosport car of Simona De Silvestro. I also saw several other women on crews for other teams. It is a welcome sight and about time Indycar offered opportunities for everyone.

A. J. Foyt Racing did an outstanding job with the throwback livery on J. R. Hildebrand’s car. It is difficult to represent a roadster livery on a rear engine car. This is one of the best I’ve seen.

The Top Gun entry shows a hint of the Johnny Lightning Special, but also reminds me of the Konstant Hot Special.

Tomorrow will see warmer temperatures than today. It should be interesting to see which cqars maintain the day to day consistency despite the weather difference.