The NTT IndyCar Series was finally gifted a nearly full day of pleasant weather, which allowed all 34 drivers entered in the Indianapolis 500 to turn laps in preparation for the big event.
After only having 2.5 hours of dry track time over the previous two days, the series extended Thursday’s practice session out to eight full hours. And teams took full advantage.
There were 1,896 total laps turned throughout the day, with Conor Daly completing 86 laps of the 2.5-mile course himself.
A few incidents spoiled a good day of track action, however, with both Marcus Ericsson and Linus Lundqvist finding the wall at high speeds.
Ericsson’s crash was the most dramatic, with his #28 Andretti Global Honda turning backwards and slapping the Turn 4 wall hard on the driver’s left side after he touched the curbing on the inside of the turn.
Luckily the SAFER barrier helped to absorb the initial impact, but then Ericsson slid across the track to the inside wall and finally into the front edge of the pit wall attenuator.
The 2022 Indy 500 winner was able to climb from his car and was quickly released from the infield care center, but his car was damaged on nearly all sides from the incident.
Lundqvist’s, impact was less severe, but it still did quite a bit of damage to his car. The rookie made a similar mistake early in the day while driving through Turn 2, touching the inside curbing with his left tire, then crashing heavily into the outer barriers.
He was also able to walk away unhurt, but his #8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda needed substantial repairs and he was not able to get back out for the rest of the day.
Lundqvist was only able to run 23 laps and rued the lost track time that he, as a rookie, could really have used.
The good news is that, upon inspection, both Honda engines appear to be undamaged and available for use the rest of the event.
Another driver that did not get to run as many laps as he would have liked was Kyle Larson, who called his day ‘boring and frustrating.’
The NASCAR star is attempting to run the Indy 500 and the Coca Cola 600 on the same day on May 26, and needs every bit of practice in the relatively unfamiliar open wheel car as he can get.
Unfortunately, his Arrow McLaren team had to change an engine early in the day, and Larson was only able to complete 29 laps after waiting for the work to be done.
At the top of the time sheets was Pato O’Ward. The popular driver completed a lap of the oval at 228.861 MPH, over 1.5 MPH faster than his nearest competitor.
O’Ward set his lap while drafting off other cars early in the day, likely while he was testing out his car with a race-ready setup.
The fastest no-tow speed was set by Colton Herta, who completed a lap averaging 224.182 MPH while simulating a qualifying run later in the afternoon.
Even though drivers will not have access to additional boost pressure until tomorrow, which will mirror the configuration for this weekend’s qualifying, teams still chose to run qualifying simulations for much of the afternoon.
Drivers on that plan searched for an open piece of track and ran four consecutive laps with low downforce in order to get the most out of their machinery.
Herta was followed by his team-mate Kyle Kirkwood at the top of the no-tow charts, possibly showing that Andretti may have found a formula that will place them near the front of the field of qualifying.
Part of the reason for the early qualifying sims was because the forecast again shows worrying signs that Friday’s six-hour session may once again be interrupted by periods of rain.
For however much track time will be available tomorrow, drivers will spend that time getting their cars tuned up for the fastest speeds they will turn all season.
With 34 drivers competing for 33 grid positions, nobody can afford to be off the pace during their qualifying runs, which start on Saturday.
