Indianapolis 500 – Page 31 – The Pit Window by Mike Silver

Day 1 Wrap Up

April 20, 2023 thepitwindow

It was one of those glorious days at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. An overcast morning led to a very brief rain shower which ended the Rookie Oreintation Program a bit early. It was followed a warm, windy, sunny afternoon of constant running.

Some notes:

The turn 2 viewing mounds were packed. I went over there this afternoon.parking was at a premium,and latecomers parked far down the road course backstretch. IMS had a ticket booth open just opposite the museum lot. Sales were slow, just four tickets sold in two hours according to the sellers. They did tell me that the main ticket office was very busy.

Augustin Canapino completed his rookie test soon after action resumed this afternoon.

Team Penske showed more strength on the IMS oval than they have in a few years. Josef Newgarden led the afternoon session, Scott McLaughlin was 10th, and Will power was 13th. Newgarden said after the session that the htree cars each worked on different things.

Arrow McLaren may have a bit of work to do. Pato O’Ward worked his way up to ninth at the end of the day, but Felix Rosenqvist was 20th and A;exander Rossi was 22nd.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s troubles continue. Graham Rahal led the team at 23rd on the speed chart.

A good day for Dreyer and Reinbold as the 500 only team saw Stefan Wilson finish sixth and Ryan Hunter-Reay come home 14th.

Andretti Autosport may be in line for their best May in awhile. Kyle Kirkwood was fourth and Colton Herta seventh this afternoon.

Chip Ganassi Racing had three drivers in the top 10-Scott Dixon was third and led a lot of the session, Alex Palou was eighth, and Takuma Sato was fifth.

The action during the last hour had a Carb Day intensity to it.

Tomorrow’s forecast looks iffy for running. Starting at 10 looks doubtful right now, and the temperature may impede track drying.

Some Photos

Results:

Kirkwood: A Different Kind of Pressure

April 20, 2023 thepitwindow

Kyle Kirkwood has a d a few days to enjoy his first career Indycar victory. In2022, he felt the pressure of a highlytouted rookie trying to ucceed in not thebest of equipment. His move to Andretti for 2023 is beginning to pay dividends. In St. Pete Kirkwood told me he flt less pressure in his new team. I asked him today if the win eased the pressure even more.

“Depends on how people perceive it. Right? I think It relieves something. I don’t know if that’s pressure. Because now it’s almost seems like there’s more pressure because people are like, Okay, now that he’s proved that, let’s see him continue to do this, you know, and and there’s pressure from that as well. So it’s a new type of pressure. So it’ll continue.”

As for when nhe might win again, Kirkwood doesn’t have a particular trackm in mind.

“I mean, I have my favorite tracks, right, that I feel like I’m better at than others. But it really depends on the weekend, how we roll out. And I’ve yet to run a road course with them (Andretti) except for at Thermal, which we were really fast. So there is promise there too. We could be really good at Barber.”

The morning session began with some issues, but the team appeared to have figured them out near the end of the practice.

“They’re (running conditions) okay. I mean, we only did four laps at the end. We were having some gremlins that were fighting which is very normal for not running a car for a year then rolling it out here. So you’re always fighting some little things, but we got through it. We ran like four laps there at the end and then and then yeah, the car fell awesome. I thought it was like Man, this thing is planted. Like we got a fast race car. “

The amount of pressure doesn’t seem to bother Kirkwood. I think his win last Sunday was the start of a multi win season.

As of 3:53 pm Kirkwood is sixth fastest with a lap of 224.8906 mph.

Rookie/Refresher Session Done; On Hold for Rain

April 20, 2023 thepitwindow

All refresher tests were completed and two of the three rookies have successfully completed their rookie tests. The next test period was scheduled to begin at 2 pm, but precipitation stopped the rookie/refresher phase with about 30 minutes to go.

Update: the track just reopened for activityand is scheduled to run until 6:30 Eastern

Ryan Hunter-Reay, Tony Kanaan, Katherine Legge, Stefan Wilson, and Marco Andretti completed theirnrefresher phases.

Sting Ray Robb and Benjamin pederen have completed their rookie tests.

Augustin Canapino is in the middleof phase 2 of his rookie test.

Veterans Session Complete- Ericsson on Top

April 20, 2023 thepitwindow

The first session of the day just finished with Marcus Ericsson posting the fast time of 224. 330 miles per hour, folowed by Helio Castroneves at 224.280 miles per hour. 25 cars took part in the session. Takuma Sato was allowed to run with the veterans since he raced at Texas.The three full time rookies- Augustin canapino, Sting Ray Robb, and Benjamin Pedersen, have begun their rookie tests. Ryan Hunter-Reay, Katherine Legge, Marco Andretti, Tony Kanaan, and Stefan Wilson are also on track for their refresher tests.

Notes

The weather is warm and overcast. Drivers noted the wind was a factor.

Marcus Ericsson hit 235 mph in the turn 3 speed trap.

The three Penske cars led the no tow list. Josef Newgarden was the fastest at 221.353 mph.

Results

1	8	Marcus Ericsson	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	224.330	36
2	6	Helio Castroneves	Meyer Shank Racing	Honda	224.280	26
3	10	Alex Palou	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	224.088	27
4	3	Scott McLaughlin	Team Penske	Chevy	223.965	37
5	33	Ed Carpenter	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevy	223.765	35
6	60	Simon Pagenaud	Meyer Shank Racing	Honda	223.540	39
7	9	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	223.466	33
8	26	Colton Herta	Andretti Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian	Honda	223.409	31
9	18	David Malukas	Dale Coyne Racing with HMD	Honda	223.390	59
10	20	Conor Daly	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevy	223.114	26
11	2	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	Chevy	222.874	22
12	12	Will Power	Team Penske	Chevy	222.593	38
13	6	Felix Rosenqvist	Arrow McLaren	Chevy	222.515	32
14	5	Pato O’Ward	Arrow McLaren	Chevy	222.377	31
15	21	Rinus VeeKay	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevy	222.126	44
16	11	Takuma Sato	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	222.012	33
17	29	Devlin DeFrancesco	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport	Honda	220.920	23
18	77	Callum Ilott	Juncos Hollinger Racing	Chevy	220.911	21
19	14	Santino Ferrucci	AJ Foyt Enterprises	Chevy	220.571	30
20	45	Christian Lundgaard	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	220.223	28
21	30	Jack Harvey	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	220.181	27
22	15	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	219.670	32
23	7	Alexander Rossi	Arrow McLaren	Chevy	219.516	31
24	27	Kyle Kirkwood	Andretti Autosport	Honda	219.463	5
25	28	Romain Grosjean	Andretti Autosport	Honda	219.359	11

Photos

A bit of a shock to see Pato in a black car

Helio Castroneves was second quick this morning

It’s May in April

April 20, 2023 thepitwindow

Cars get on the IMS oval at 10 this morning for the first time sinece May 29, 2022, The turn 2 viewing mounds are open for public viewing.

A reminder of the new schedule:

Thursday, April 20

10 a.m.-6:30 p.m. ET

Veterans 10 a.m.- noon

Rookie Orientation Program and refresher noon-2 p.m.

All eligible cars- 2-6:30

Friday, April 21

10 a.m.-4 p.m

All eligible cars

All track is streamed on Peacock.

If you can, I would get out today. The weather forecast for tomorrow is not promising, with a high of 55 degrees and morning rain, followed by more rain in the afternoon. Today’s weather is sunny to partly cloudy with a high in the low 80s.

Today we get our first look at the liveries for the 500.

33 cars will participate n the test.All full time teams will joine the 500 only entries for Katherine Legge Stefan Wilson, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Takuma Sato, Tony Kanaan, and Marco Andretti. All but Sato will need to take the refresher test.

Sting Ray Robb, Augustin Canapino, and Benjamin Pedersen will be taking their rookie tests this afternoon.

We may get an idea of who will be fast next month, and we will posibly w=see how the new aero parts help in traffic and passing.

IMS Revises Open Test Schedule

April 19, 2023 thepitwindow

IMS has evised the hours for the open Indycar test tomorrow and friday in light of the weather forecast.The new imes:

Thursday, April 20

10 a.m.-6:30 p.m. ET

Veterans 10 a.m.- noon

Rookie Orientation Program and refresher noon-2 p.m.

All eligible cars- 2-6:30

Friday, April 21

10 a.m.-4 p.m

All eligible cars

The 34th entry from Abel Motorsports with driver R C Enerson will not participate in the test this week. Enerson will need to take his refresher whent the track opens for practice in May.

Kanaan Livery Completes Stellar Lineup for McLaren

April 19, 2023 thepitwindow

Arrow Mclaren revealed the last of their four cars for the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500 this morning. The number 66 car for 2013 winner tony kanaan completes a lstable of what are arguably the four best looking cars in the field./

Kanaan’s car with the rest of Arrow McLaren cars

I really like the orange star around the cockpit. This car will loook great in aerial shots.

The cars for payo O’Ward, Alwxander rossi, and Felix Rosenqvist are commemorative designs representing McLaren cars which won racing’s triple crown- LeMans, monaco, and the Indianapolis 500.

Open Test at IMS

April 18, 2023April 18, 2023 thepitwindow2 Comments

Thursday and Friday the field for the 107th running odf the Indianapolis 500 will get their first chance to run the new aero package at IMS. A portion of Thurdsday is set aside for Rookie orientation and refresher tests.

The final entry, Abel motorsports with R C Enerson hopes to be ready to run. Enerson will need a refresher test. Katherine Legge and Ryan hunter-reay will also run refresher laps.

Three full time rookies- Benjamin Pedersen, Sting Ray Robb, and Augusyin canapino- will take their rookie tests The fourth rookie, Marcus Armstrong, is not running the oval;s in 2023.

Turn 2 viewing mounds will be open for fans. Both test days. will be streamed on Peacock.

Schedule: All times Eastern

Thursday, April 20

11-1 veterans

1-3 Rookie Orientation and rgeresher tests

3-6 All eligible cars

Friday April21

10-4 All cars

A Modern Era Record

Long Beach announced a modern era (since 2008) attendance record of 192,000 fans for the three day weekend. All reserved seats were sold for Sunday’s race.

Abel Motorsports Enters Indianapolis 500- Field Set at 34 Entries

April 15, 2023 thepitwindow

As first reported by mny friends at trackside Online yesterday and confirmed by notgher sources, Abel motorsports, currently running an Indy NXT team with driver Jacob Abel, will enter the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500 with driver R C Enerson.

The car will likely have Chevrolet power, giving each manufacturer 17 entries.

Enerson is a veteran of five Indycar races with a best finish of ninth at Watkins Glen driving for Dale Coyne.

Enerson failed to qualify for the 2019 Indianapolis 500 with Top Gun Racing.

Abel Motorsports is rumored to be looking to field a full time Indycar effort, possibly as early as next year.

The 34th entry sets up the possibility of bumping to set the grid for the 2023 race. I will have some thoughts on that next week.