Indianapolis 500 Testing Goes Well, If Not As Predicted

At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, expect the unexpected.

This week’s two-day Indianapolis 500 Open Test proved that.

During Tuesday’s opening-day activity alone, 32 of the 33 cars present combined for 2,262 incident-free laps, or 5,655 miles, which is the equivalent of the driving distance from Los Angeles to New York and back. The two-day total for all 33 entries was 4,697 trouble-free laps, or 11,742.5 miles, about the distance from Nome, Alaska, to Miami.

Jack Harvey’s engine problem, which produced a plume of white smoke from the rear of the Dreyer & Reinbold No. 24 Chevrolet in the North Chute in Wednesday’s practice, was the lone glitch in the entire test.

Each day had its unpredicted results.

The first saw three experienced but part-time racers led the way—each with his fastest lap in the final 15 minutes of allotted track time. Conor Daly, a 12-time Indianapolis 500 qualifier and driver of the No. 23 Dreyer & Reinbold Chevy, was fastest at 225.394 mph.

Meyer Shank Racing’s Helio Castroneves, who is seeking an unprecedented fifth Indianapolis 500 crown in his 26th start, was second at 225.200 in the No. 06 Honda.

Takuma Sato, Japan’s two-time 500 winner in 16 starts, was third at 224.800 in the No. 75 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda. Like Daly and Castroneves, he isn’t a regular on the tour this year.

Day 2 saw rookie Caio Collet, of A.J. Foyt Racing, use some aerodynamic help to put his No. 4 Chevrolet at the top of the leaderboard with a 226.381-mph lap. His early in-the-day feat—which came after a 75-minute delay in the aftermath of an overnight and morning rainfall—trumped Tuesday’s best of 225.394 from Daly.

Collet’s speed topped the 226.223 mph from Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden and the 225.272 from third-place Chip Ganassi Racing star Alex Palou. And it surprised even Collet.

“No, no, never expected that,” the Brazilian driver said. “Obviously, the team has a good background here and has done really, really well the last couple of years, especially last year. As a rookie, I was just trying to learn things and see how everything went. But the team, they did a really good job and got me up to speed quickly, and I got really comfortable.

“Obviously, a lot of things I still have to learn, especially in traffic. I have to understand how to manage traffic and how to get by people. But I think by myself I felt really good, and the team gave me a really good car both days,” he said. “The first time you’re actually here, you see guys flying by and think, ‘Oh, can I really do that?’ Once you get in the car, the team does a good job prepping you to be here and to do the laps. We got it all done, got up to speed quite quickly.”

Oh, and a fox ran onto the track from the infield but scampered off and away from the property Wednesday.

So plenty of curious takeaways came from the virtually incident-free practice leading up to the Saturday, May 9 Sonsio Grand Prix on the IMS road course and the 110th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on the famed oval Sunday, May 24.

“There are several cars that aren’t running their race cars yet. It’s just testing. We can’t overreact to test results,” Daly said. “But honestly, every time we went out there, we did seem to be pretty quick, which is good.”

Four Indianapolis 500 rookies—Jacob Abel, Collet, Dennis Hauger, and Mick Schumacher—completed the Rookie Orientation Program. And veteran drivers Ed Carpenter, Helio Castroneves, Jack Harvey, and Ryan Hunter-Reay—passed their refresher tests. Katherine Legge, who experienced clutch problems Tuesday with her No. 11 HMD/A.J. Foyt Racing Chevy, finished her refresher test Wednesday. She’ll be the lone woman in the field for her fifth Indianapolis 500 start.

All 33 drivers are eligible to participate when practice for the 110th Indianapolis 500 begins Tuesday, May 12.