What a difference a day makes. Today is sunny, beautiful, and 80 degrees. All 33 cars have been on track today. Some teams have had their cars run in groups to practice passing and drafting. The session has only stopped once for 11 minutes for a track inspection.
Scott Dixon has the fastest lap so far this afternoon at 227.335 mph, followed by Pato O’Ward at 226.048. More notable for qualifying are the no tow speeds and the trap speeds.
Will Power has the fastest no tow lap at 224.325 mph. Juan Pablo Montoya has the fastest trap speed on the front stretch at 237.625. Dixon is quickest through turns 1 and 2. Tony Kanaan has the best trap speed in turn3, and O’Ward is fastest in turn 4.
Kyle Kirkwood has run 66 laps today, the most of any driver. Alexander Rossi has turned just 16 circuits.
Sunday’s pole day qualifying has a slight tweak to help the cars in the Fast Six cool down for the final round. It will fit in the time window allotted for the pole run. It involves a five minute break to help cool the engines and two pace laps at 100 mph to bring the engines back up to peak running temperature. I will have more details later.
Some photos of today’s action.
Kyle Kirkwood (L) and Dalton Kellett play teammate tagPato O’WardTony KanaanGraham Rahal
Marcus Ericsson doesn’t give up. He has a knack for getting back into contention after misfortune strikes during a race. Last year he won the Music City Grand Prix in Nashville despite an early incident which saw his car become airborne. In last Saturday’s GMR Grand Prix at IMS the Chip Ganassi racing driver came back to finish fourth after an off road adventure.
Ericsson talked about his knack for overcoming adversity.
“I’d like to be you know, running up front all day and having a steady race, leading the race and winning the race but yeah, it seems to be when there’s chaos we thrive so it’s just I don’t know, I think I have a you know, really good fit well, they’re, you know, good guys that are very smart and make good decisions and that helps us put us in good positions. And also for me, I you know, a driver can make a difference as well when it’s you know, harsh conditions and a lot of things happening and then it seemed to work in my favor.”
Passing was tricky on Tuesday, Ericsson said.
“It was pretty busy at times. There were some b ig packs running. And it’s always hard in practice because people are trying to blend out and drop back into field and it sort of gets- a few times where it gets tricky because of it but I thought our car especially towards the end of the day was really, really good, really happy in traffic. So that was promising. So looking forward to building on that again today and see if we can learn more.”
Marcus Ericsson talks to the media this morning
Today the Ganassi team may try some running as a group to get a sense of the draft and how difficult passing may be
“Yeah, I think since we are five cars, we’re gonna try and get out and do some, you know, some profit group brands. So that that is a plan, but as always, you know, we have to see how the day goes. But yeah, I think it’s one of our advantages for us being five cars that we can go out at a specific time together.”
Looking ahead to the weekend, Ericsson is wary of the weather changes and its effect on qualifying.
“It’s tough for me I find because especially around here that the weather and the temperatures really can make a car really good or really bad very quickly. So I think that’s something looking at the forecast for this week. Now. It was raining all day yesterday. I think the track is going to be pretty green to today, but it’s gonna warm up in the afternoon. So let’s see how that is. And even tomorrow is supposed to be really hot and windy. And then you look at Saturday and Sunday and it seems like it’s a cold front coming there. So I think it’s going to be quite tricky for all the teams and drivers to sort of try and get the get the car in the sort of sweet spots because around this place, you know, small changes makes a big difference. So yeah, it’s definitely a challenge and I think the experienced guys probably have a bit of upper hand there on starting you know, it’s my fourth year so I’m getting there but compared to hell, you and these guys I have a few years ago.”
I think Ericsson is a driver to watch in qualifying and the race. I have him as a dark horse to win.
TICKETS: General Admission tickets are $15 for Indy 500 practice days. Children 15 and under are admitted free with paying adult.
PUBLIC GATES OPEN (10 a.m.-6 p.m.): Gate 1, Gate 2, Gate 4, Gate 6S, Gate 7, Gate 7S, Gate 10 and Gate 10A.
Bicycle parking is located outside Gate 1, Gate 6 and Gate 9.
The weather should be much improved today. while qualifying weekend looks like a mixed bag. The latest from @Indycar_Wxman:
Teams have just one more day to learn about their cars before Fast Friday and more boost is added for qualifying. Look for some teams to do some qualifying runs and others to still work on race setups.
I plan to have a 3 pm update on track activity, and I will report any developments as they happen. I have a couple of excursions today and tomorrow which I will share as well.
Indianapolis 500 Practice Time Moved by One Hour Monday, May 23
Rain Washes Out Practice Wednesday INDIANAPOLIS (Wednesday, May 18, 2022) – The time will shift to 1-3 p.m. (ET) for the 106th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge practice session Monday, May 23 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Moving from the originally scheduled time of noon-2 p.m. will give teams that participated in Top 12 Qualifying and the Firestone Fast Six on Sunday, May 22 more time to change to their “500” race engines. Teams that qualified in the 13th to 33rd positions Saturday, May 21 will not turn laps on the 2.5-mile oval Sunday and will be allowed to change engines that day. Peacock Premium will provide live coverage of the two-hour session open to all 33 qualifiers for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” with coverage also offered by the INDYCAR Radio Network. IMS public gates will be open from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. for the practice.
Kyle Kirkwood is excited to be in his first 500. I spoke with the A. J. Foyt Racing driver yesterday after practice.
“It’s a really cool thing,” Kirkwood said of driving in the 500 for the first time.
He was happy with his morning run when the number 14 car finished 11th.
Indycar photo by Joe Skibinski
“We did the most laps out of everyone. So we’re getting the critical things that we’ve got to take everything apart, put our car back together and we seem to be better than we started off for some reason. So we’re happy with everything works around.”
Kirkwood felt his car picked up where they stopped at the end of the open test last month.
“You know, it’s just starting off. Everyone’s kind of starting off slow because it’s such a long, such a long two weeks of testing and everything so it’s really just making sure we got all the big things sorted out and we’ll start fine tuning the car as days go on,” Kirkwood said.
“We feel good. I think the conditions are quite a bit different than they were at the at the open test. I think everyone out there seemed to struggle a little bit more in traffic, for whatever that reason,” he continued. “We’ve had some rain over the past couple weeks and the track might have been a bit dirty. Possible. . But we feel we feel okay at the moment.”
The team’s plan for yesterday afternoon was “We’ve got a big list of items that we need to get through this next week and we’re just hitting all this off gathering as much data together and then we’ll reconvene or go back over it at some point, either at the end of this week or next week and figure out exactly what we have and we’re looking forward to get through these types of items and hopefully ended up with a really good car at the end.”
At St. Pete Kirkwood mentioned that he didn’t have much oval experience. Racing at Texas seems to have helped his confidence on ovals.
“Yeah, I’m very comfortable. It’s a bit different than Texas is given how flat the track is. But I feel very comfortable in the number 14 Rokit Chevrolet. “
Kirkwood ended up 21st in the afternoon session. It’s not unusual to see cars slide backwards in the second practice session as the team tries different setups.
Indycar just announced the track is closed for the day. The rain is falling harder now. Tomorrow’s forecast is much better with a forecast high of 85 degrees with partly cloudy skies. Friday and Saturday are looking at very hot temperatures with a 40% chance of rain on Saturday.
By contrast, Sunday’s Pole Day forecast shows a high of 63 degrees and cloudy.
The image above looks as if it were taken last Saturday, but alas, I snapped it just two minutes ago. Some cars were on pit lane at 11:45 as a light sprinkle fell. The rain increased soon afterwards, and the cars returned to their garages.
Practice is on an indefinite hold. My weather app radar shows rain continuing through the 5 o’clock hour. I would say any track time today is doubtful. With every entry guaranteed to make the race, losing a day may not be as critical as it has been in the past. Most of the teams have the benefit of the two day open test in April.
Notes
IMSA at IMS? One of the first goals Roger penske set for the Speedway when he bought the track was to hoist a sports car endurance race. I think he was hoping for a World Endurance event, but it appears an IMSA race is more likely, probably a sprint event of 100 or 160 minutes.
Adding an IMSA event means IMS would host each of the three major North American series, something that is long overdue.
New at the IMS online shop In an email today the Indianapolis Kotr Speedway online store is offering a 1:12 replica of Ray Harroun’s Marmon Wasp, winner of the first 500. It can be yours for just $599.99.
Third OEM There is still no word about a third engine manufacturer for Indycar. I mention this because yesterday Lamborghini announced they will be joining IMSA’s GTP class in 2024 with an LMDh entry joining Cadillac, Acura, BMW, and Porsche.
I will keep you updated on the day here at IMS. Keep checking back. I will post at 3 pm Eastern or sooner if I hear something before then.
Update: At 6:51am there is light rain falling. The rain should end around 8 am. After 1 pm he rain chances are significant.
Today’s Schedule:
10 a.m.-6 p.m. Public Gates Open Noon-6 p.m. Open Practice–Peacock
TICKETS: General Admission tickets are $15 for Indy 500 practice days. Children 15 and under are admitted free with paying adult.
PUBLIC GATES OPEN (10 a.m.-6 p.m.): Gate 1, Gate 2, Gate 4, Gate 6S, Gate 7, Gate 7S, Gate 10 and Gate 10A.
PARKING: Free parking for Indianapolis 500 practice is located in Turn 3 and Lot 7 (North 40), in the South Carousel Lot for motorcycle parking and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum Lot for ADA parking.
There is a 54% chance of rain at 9 am this morning, and chances increase every hour after that until 5 pm. If this forecast holds, running today is unlikely.
Will Ganassi cars stay at the top of the charts? I don’t think we have seen everything Team Penske has yet. It’s always a question on Day 2. Let’s hope cars get on track today.
Wilson Completes Refresher
Stefan Wilson completed his refresher test in a 2 hour session dedicated for rookie and refresher test. Cusick Motorsports and Wilson did not participate in the open test last month.
Check back for weather updates and some driver features.
Takuma Sato turned the fastest lap of the day in the last few minutes of the afternoon practice session. Sato’s lap of 228.939 was the fastest of the day. Scott Dixon, the leader of the morning round, held the lead for most of the three hour session.
Eight Hondas were in the top 10. Rinus VeeKay in fifth and Josef Newgarden in eighth were the only Chevys in the top 10.
The session stopped three times, twice for debris and once when a quick brown fox jumped over the Speedway fence.
Scott Dixon cautioned against reading too much into today’s speeds.
“It’s just the first day,” he said.
Rinus VeeKay was fifth this afternoon, but he was first on the no two speeds. His Teammate Ed Carpenter had the second fastest no tow lap.
“I’m very comfortable in the car,” VeeKay said.
Teams of Note
Dale Coyne Racing cars were first and seventh with David Malukas finding speed late in the session.
All five Chip Ganassi Racing drivers were in the top 10. After Dixon, Jimmie Johnson was third, Marcus Ericsson fourth, Alex Palou sixth, and Tony Kanaan ninth. Dixon said they did do any group running today but plan to later in the week.
Notes
Stefan Wilson completed his refresher test then ran 10 more laps in the practice session.
A nice size crowd was on hand for today’s opening.
The Pit Window by Mike Silver 