Team Penske’s Will Power in the No.12 Verizon 5G Chevrolet led Monday’s final practice session ahead of Carb Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Power set a fastest speed of 229.222MPH.
Six-time series champion Scott Dixon in the No.9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda was second fastest with a speed of 229.184MPH ending the session just ahead of Takuma Sato who set a 228.382MPH. The two-time Indy 500 champion ended the day just ahead of this year’s Indianapolis pole-sitter and teammate Alex Palou in the No.10 The American Legion Honda.
Tony Kanaan in the No.66 SmartStop Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren was 5th with a speed of 227.094MPH just ahead of Ed Carpenter Racing Conor Daly who in turn was ahead of Marco Andretti. It was another great day for AJ Foyt Racing’s Benjamin Pedersen in the No.55 Sexton Properties Chevrolet who was 8th with a speed of 226.632MPH. Kanaan spoke following practice saying:
”We gave the team some pit stops. We went through a lot of changes, and I wanted to find out a few things with Blair Perschbacher, one of my engineers. It was a good day, another good day at the race track. It’s been a pretty smooth month.”
Pato O’Ward in the No.5 Arrow McLaren was 9th, while Colton Herta in the No.26 Gainbridge Honda rounded out the top ten with a speed of 225.943MPH. Speaking following the action, O’Ward said:
“First day back on race running. We need to analyze the results to see what we can find on why we’re having such differences from one run to the other.”
It was a great session for Ryan Hunter-Reay as he ended the session in 11th place for Dreyer and Reinbold Racing who set a 225.858MPH just ahead of Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin and defending Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson in the No.8 Huski Iced Spritz Honda. Kyle Kirkwood was P14 with a speed of 225.404MPH.
Ed Carpenter was P15 with a speed of 225.345MPH, just ahead of Agustin Canapino who did a wonderful job with 225.266MPH. Christian Lundgaard in th No.45 Hy-Vee Honda was 17th with a speed of 225.168MPH. David Malukas and Simon Pagenaud were 18th and 19th, respectively.
Alexander Rossi rounded out the top twenty with a speed of 224.974MPH, just ahead of Sting Ray Robb, while Romain Grosjean was 22nd. All thoughts are with Stefan Wilson who ended the session in 23rd place but was transported to IU Methodist Hospital following a big crash during practice..
Speaking following the action Rossi said:
”It’s funny. You’re here for a really long time, but you start to feel like you’re running out of time. It was a productive day. I think we’ve got a strong car; we’re just trying to obviously be the best, and it’s tough. It changes everyday. I think we’re in a really good spot. We just need to stay on top of the conditions, and we have one more shot at it on Carb Day on Friday.”
Josef Newgarden was 24th just ahead of RC Enerson of Abel Motorsports and Jack Harvey and Helio Castroneves. Devlin DeFrancesco was 28th just ahead of Katherine Legge who was checked, cleared and released from the infield care center.
”The cars in front were all checking up and I lifted as much as I could and did two downshifts and started to hit the brakes but it wasn’t enough so I unfortunately got into the back of Stef (Stefan Wilson) and we both ended up in the wall. I know this is another blow to the team after yesterday and those guys just don’t deserve it. I’m fine and happy to know that Stefan is too.”
Felix Rosenqvist was 30th just ahead of Santino Ferrucci and Callum Ilott while Rinus VeeKay rounded out the order in 33rd.