Andretti Leads Honda Effort at Indianapolis 500 “Fast Friday” Practice

* Final practice prior to qualifying Saturday and Sunday
* Gabby Chaves continues impressive rookie performance
* 99th running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 24

Marco Andretti led the way for Honda and his Andretti Autosport team in “Fast Friday” practice today at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, posting the fourth-fastest speed of 230.312 mph in the final practice session prior to the start of qualifying Saturday for the Indianapolis 500.

Marco Andretti again led the way for Honda and Andretti Autosport in practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Marco Andretti again led the way for Honda and Andretti Autosport in practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Gabby Chaves continued his run of impressive performances in practice to record the seventh-fastest speed of 229.891 mph for Bryan Herta Autosport; while A.J. Foyt Racing’s Takuma Sato wrapped up an encouraging week of practice with the ninth-fastest speed, 229.808 mph.

Qualifying to set the field of 33 begins Saturday and concludes on Sunday. Television coverage on ABC begins at 4 p.m. EDT Saturday and 1 p.m. EDT Sunday.

Gabby Chaves (#98 Bryan Herta Autosport Honda) 7th fastest, leads Indy 500 rookies: “I think we had a very positive day. The car was working well. It’s definitely been the hardest day out there for me. I think, here today and tomorrow and Sunday will be the hardest days. I think once we get back to race trim downforce configurations, it will be a lot easier. I think the track conditions weren’t very favorable, as well, very strong winds. It definitely made for some tough times out there. But I was very happy with the car. We made great progress all day. Made some good changes that allowed me to post some quick speeds.”