Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato in the No.75 AMADA RLL Honda had a solid Carb Day on Friday, where he ended the practice session before the Greatest Spectacle In Racing in second place with a speed of 225.4155MPH. After crashing his primary car during the April open test, the Japanese driver had a tough time, which resulted in Rahal purchasing a new chassis from Dallara. The Japanese driver had a suspected engine issue on Friday.
Sato, who starts Sunday’s race from the middle of the front row in second place, commented following Carb Day, saying:
We were slowly but surely building up the confidence in the session. This is the last chance to work on the race set up. I would say we weren’t entirely happy with it yet but we were making good progress. We were pointing in the right direction, so I want to check all the data. We had a mechanical failure on the last run and lost performance on one side of the car. It’s too early for me to say what that was until the team investigates it, but I almost lost control in Turn 1 and we are just fortunate I didn’t hit anything. I nearly lost the car again. We will look into it.”
Devlin DeFrancesco in the No.30 Dogecoin Honda ended Friday’s action in fourth place with a speed of 224.778MPH and speaking following the action, the Canadian commented saying:
It was a really solid Carb Day for the No. 30 Dogecoin Honda. I think it was the best day we’ve had all month. We rolled off and the issues that we’ve been experiences all month with the mid-off-corner understeer were solved and I think we can be a really strong force come Sunday. We’re in a good window.
Louis Foster in the No.45 Desnuda Tequila Honda ended the day in 22nd place with a speed of 222.539MPH and speaking following the action he commented saying:
We’re getting there on the balance; there is still work to do on it. Hopefully, come race day we will have nailed it. We are struggling in a straight line with speed. We trimmed and it helped a little bit but we’re looking at various things to work on the drag and if we can find something, that would be great. We’ve done a really good job of getting the balance in the window. Our focus now is on reducing some drag
Graham Rahal in the No.15 United Rentals Honda had a mechanical issue which Paddock Eye understands was an engine failure. Speaking following the action he commented saying:
We had a mechanical failure before the halfway point of the session unfortunately. We’ve had our challenges this month, but we’ve hung in there. This is the most recent one and we’re done for the day unfortunately. I was out on the first new set of tires I’ve had and was trying to get in the pack but I could tell the car wouldn’t stay in the pack. It kept getting slower and slower, then finally out of Turn 1, I felt it grind pretty good to end our day, which is disappointing for our team, for United Rentals and everyone. The car was better today, a lot better, which is a positive. The wind is wrecking havoc today, with the cross wind in particular in Turn 3. The car felt really good in Turn 2, which is key for the race so I was pleased with that. I just wish we could have gotten more time on track. At this stage you’ve just got to make the best of it. It’s not ideal but we’ll do what we can.”