In the second full day of practice for the Indianapolis 500, Dragonspeed was again not able to participate with the rest of the field.
The small team missed out on the first day of practice yesterday as they took their time ensuring the car was ready before heading out on track. The team does not have a backup car and did not want to risk their participation in the race by rushing through the setup process.
As skilled the team’s longtime sportscar driver Ben Hanley is, he has very limited experience behind the wheel of an IndyCar and is required to go through the “Rookie Orientation Program” before being allowed to join a standard practice session at full speed.
The team was given some extra time yesterday afternoon as well as early this morning to do the required laps at a slightly slower speed, but electronics communication troubles meant only a couple laps were able to be completed.
Because the full build-up program was not completed, the US-based team was forced to sit out for the entirety of today’s practice session and miss out on critical race setup development time that the rest of the field was able to take advantage of.
Hanley will get another chance late this afternoon to complete his required slow laps and ensure his eligibility for the remaining practice sessions this week.
Assuming he is able to get on track tomorrow, the British driver will still have missed out on multiple hours getting comfortable with his car at speeds over 220 MPH. In addition, the cars will be in qualifying trim tomorrow rather than race trim, which gives the cars extra power and changes the handling significantly.
Dragonspeed has had a rough season in a year that it was planning to expand its IndyCar presence significantly. Instead of six races, the team is now only planning to run this one event, but just can’t seem to get it started.
Last season, in the team’s maiden Indy 500 outing, Hanley only managed to finish 32nd out of a field of 33.
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