106th Running of the Indianapolis 500 Arrow McLaren SP Practice Report – Friday

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Date: Sunday, May 29

Round: 6/17

Race laps: 200

Total race distance: 500 miles/804.67 km

Length: 2.5 miles/4.02 km

Number of turns: 4

Remaining session start times: 

  • Practice: Saturday, 8:30 – 9:30 a.m ET
  • Qualifying: Saturday, 11:00 – 5:50 p.m. ET
  • Top 12 Practice: Sunday, 12:00 – 2:30 p.m ET
  • Top 12 and Top 6 Qualifying: Sunday, 4:00 – 6:00 p.m ET
  • Practice: Monday, May 23, 12:00 – 2:00 p.m. ET 
  • Final Practice: Friday, May 27, 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. ET
  • Indianapolis 500: Sunday, May 29, 11:00 a.m. ET

TUNE IN FOR QUALIFYING:

  • Sunday, 4:00 p.m. ET on NBC

TUNE IN FOR THE 106TH RUNNING OF THE INDIANAPOLIS 500:

  • Sunday, May 29, 11:00 a.m. ET on NBC
Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet
Practice: 3rd, 231.798 mph
Laps Completed: 12 
Qualifying Order: 1st  
“It was a very windy Fast Friday today, but I’m glad that we got our four lap run in. The car feels solid. Today was obviously a struggle, not just for us but for everyone, because the track conditions are shifting rapidly and making one end of the track a lot harder than the other. I think tomorrow, for qualifying, it looks a bit better and I think we’re in a good spot to have a strong qualifying.”
Felix Rosenqvist, No. Vuse 7 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet
Practice: 6th, 231.493 mph
Laps Completed: 13 
Qualifying Order: 4th  
“Today was a pretty sporty day for us. I went out in the beginning, had too much understeer but the car felt good so we just had to tune the balance a bit. I came out for my second run and it was really good. It wasn’t the cleanest of runs, I kind of missed my run into Turn 1 on one lap, but the lap time still came. That shows that the car has a lot of speed. We couldn’t complete our run due to temperatures, but I think we were one of the strongest cars out there today.”
Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 6 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet
Practice: 32nd, 223.764 mph
Laps Completed: 6
Qualifying Order: 9th 
“The conditions were very difficult today so we did one run to check the systems and make sure everything was set. Tomorrow the conditions will be so different that it didn’t seem worth it to risk the car today. The engineers think we will do a good job tomorrow getting the car to where it needs to be. If we do that, we will be okay in qualifying.”

  Taylor Kiel – President, Arrow McLaren SP

“Today was certainly an interesting Fast Friday with the heavy winds leading to less than ideal track conditions for trying to complete qualifying simulations. We were able to get out there with all three Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolets and find our baseline for the start of qualifying tomorrow which is a positive. We will come back tomorrow, when the conditions will likely be considerably different, and be ready to put down strong qualifying efforts for all three cars and drivers.”