HUNTER-REAY LEADS DREYER & REINBOLD RACING’S FIRST DAY OF PRACTICE WEDNESDAY FOR 2023 INDIANAPOLIS 500 AT 227.619

Stefan Wilson records 109 laps and a best speed of 226.285 in No. 24 Chevy

SPEEDWAY, IN (May 17, 2023) – Former Indianapolis 500 champion Ryan Hunter-Reay led the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing team Wednesday with a strong 227.619 miles per hour lap in the opening round of practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the May 28 “Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

Hunter-Reay, the 2012 NTT IndyCar Series champion and 2014 Indy 500 winner, drove his No. 23 DreyerReinbold.com Chevrolet to 81 laps in the six-hour, sun-drenched IMS practice session as the Florida racer jumped to fourth early in the day with 226.011 m.p.h. lap. The DRR crew then made numerous adjustments with the chassis and Ryan later posted a 227.619 lap (8th fastest of the day).

Hunter-Reay’s teammate, Stefan Wilson, in the No. 24 DRR/Cusick Motorsports/CareKeepers Chevrolet, was busier in practice with a total of 109 circuits on the famed 2.5-mile oval. The British native vaulted to seventh on the speed charts with a 225.519 m.p.h. speed in the first hour of action before improving to a best of 226.285 (15th fastest).

Team owner Dennis Reinbold was pleased with the team’s progress in Wednesday’s practice round with two new drivers and looks to gain more speed as the week moves on with practice days. Qualifying for the 107th running of the Indy 500 is scheduled for Saturday (May 20) and Sunday (May 21).

“It was a good first day, solid overall,” said Reinbold, who first entered cars at the Indy 500 in 2000. “We did find many things we can improve on now as we moved towards qualifying. We were able to get out and run with everyone in traffic too. We were happy with how that looked for us too. It is just a matter of continuing to get the cars better as we go. We had some things we tried and didn’t work as well as some which did work. In practice, you are trying a variety of settings. So, you find out which is best that day. We did some things well, and overall, I was pleased with the first day.”

Hunter-Reay, returning to IMS for the first time since 2021, showed that he hadn’t missed a beat with his quick lap early in the session, and the veteran driver continued his speed improvement throughout Wednesday’s events.

“Today was a very productive day for us,” said Hunter-Reay. “We got through a lot of the checklist we hoped to. We lost a little bit yesterday with rainout. But the car has some good speed in it. We have some things to sort out tomorrow. I am cautiously optimistic with the car. We are keeping our heads down and working hard.

“The track conditions were good today, not too hot. Track temperatures got up a bit in the afternoon and the surface got greasy. It was a beautiful day to be at the Speedway. We expect it to be much hotter and more difficult on race day. We are looking forward to Thursday’s action.”

Wilson, making his debut with the DRR Cusisk Motorsports team, continued his strong showing from last month’s test day at IMS with good runs during the on-track activities.

“We finished day two of practice which was really day one after Tuesday’s rainout.” Said Wilson “It was a very solid day in the No. 24 Cusick Motorsports/CareKeepers Chevy. We just worked on race setup today and focused on the race car to make it better each time out. We tried things in traffic and found some things that worked well and some which didn’t work. We are now going through all of the data that was accumulated today. We are assessing some of the changes we made and see where we can improve. We’ll look at some of the things we want to try later in the week too. Overall, it was good first day for the team.”

Thursday’s Indy 500 practice round gets underway at 12 p.m. at IMS and runs to 6 p.m. Both DRR team cars are expected to hit the track when the green flag falls