Sunday afternoon practice, the last time the drivers and teams get a chance to work on their race set-ups, until Carb Day, got underway at 3:30 pm and ran until 6 pm. Earlier today, we had a chance to ask Tony Kanaan, Ed Carpenter, and Zach Veach how important this practice is. They all agreed...
READ MOREAt 1:15pm, the green flag for qualifying came out at 1:15pm, and Takuma Sato was the first car on track. The ambient temperature was 80F with the humidity at a fairly sticky 61%. The track temperature was 114F. Takuma Sato – Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing – No. 30 Panasonic/People Ready Honda Warm-Up: 214.150 Lap 1:...
READ MOREBy Steve Wittich When the half-hour Fast Nine Shootout began at 11 am, the No. 15 United Autosport Honda of Graham Rahal, the No. 29 Genesys Honda of James Hinchcliffe, and No. 30 Panasonic/People Ready Honda of Takuma Sato. The 2017 Indianapolis 500 champion did a four-lap qualification simulation with a quick lap of 230.938mph...
READ MORE
By Steve Wittich First, thanks for following along with my qualifying drivel today. Today’s coverage was a blend of the past and some COVID-19 necessities, but one thing didn’t change. I was kept busy. Typically (nothing is usual these days), I would have customarily split my time between pit road and the media center. Today,...
READ MOREThe final hour of qualifying began with a quiet track. With 54-minutes left in the day, Kimball took to the track to try and improve on his 30th provisional starting spot. He aborted the run on his right up right With 50-minutes left, the 2019 pole winner went back out on track from 25th Warm-Up:...
READ MOREAt 1:56pm, Jack Harvey, who was the fifth car out this morning went back out in attempt to improve from his 19th spot. Jack Harvey – Meyer-Shank Racing – No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda Warm-Up: 213.190 Lap 1: 230.198 Lap 2: 229.892 Lap 3: 229.475 Lap 4: 229.465 Average: 229.757 Notes: His engineer tells...
READ MOREQ20 James Hinchcliffe – Andretti Autosport – No. 29 Genesys Honda Warm-Up: 211.682 Lap 1: 231.790 Lap 2: 231.393 Lap 3: 231.048 Lap 4: 230.533 Average: 231.195 – good enough for third – knocking Newgarden out of the Fast Nine Shootout Notes: told to keep doing what he’s doing said that it was well balanced...
READ MOREPower told NBC: “Yeah. Not a chance. We’re one of the slowest cars out there. Was wide open the whole time. It blows my mind. I have so many poles at every other track and I’ve never had the fastest car here. No. We ran exactly… we ran less downforce than Josef and we’re slower....
READ MOREBy Steve Wittich Qualifying for the 104th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge got underway promptly at 11am. Q1 Graham Rahal – Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing – No. 15 United Rentals Honda Warm-Up: 215.686 Lap 1: 231.102 Lap 2:230.876 Lap 3: 230.740 Lap 4:230.572 Average: 230.822 – pole at the time Notes: Rahal gets close to...
READ MOREBy Steve Wittich The green flag for the first group of practice came out at 8:30 am. The Hoosier skies were bright blue with no clouds. The ambient temperature was 70F, and the track temperature was 80F. When practice opened, only the cars of Helio Castroneves, Conor Daly, and J.R. Hildebrand were on pit road...
READ MORE