Photo by Kyle McInnes

On the third day they practiced. After two days plagued by rain and limited track time, Thursday at IMS was as close to a perfect practice day as anyone could ask for.

Skies were sunny, the temperature was warm but not too hot, and the teams took full advantage of the welcome break in the weather.

Pato O’Ward took the fastest time early- 228.861- and was never caught. He said he is really happy with his car. O’Ward said drivers will need some practice time with the extra boost the cars will receive for qualifying tomorrow. If tomorrow is a rainout, he hopes the series will provide extra practice time on Saturday.

Linus Lundqvist crashed in turn two. He entered the turn high and hit the wall on the backstretch. After an 18 minute halt, action resumed.

Several teams practiced drafting; others worked ion qualifying simulations. The track was quite busy for about two hours. Teams took a brief break, then resumed running.

Around four o’clock Marcus Ericsson spun in turn four. He hit the outside wall and slid across the pit entry, hit the inside wall then collided with the pit attenuator. Ericsson will drive a backup car, but the engine was not damaged.

Practice resumed for about 40 minutes before rain stopped the running again. The track went green with 26 minutes to go. Another round of moisture ended thed the day about 10 minutes early.

Notes

There was a great crowd today as fans took advantage of what was the best weather day of the year.

The field ran a total of 1,897 laps.

The top 23 were separated by less than a second.

Troubles–

Kyle Larson’s car had an engine change this morning. He ran about 30 laps.

Sting Ray Robb ran just 14 laps today.

Alexander Rossi suffered gear box issues early, but he still turned 61 laps.

Fast Friday practice begins at noon tomorrow. Cars get 100 horsepower extra boost.

Thanks for following along on what has been a busy day.