The fourth Indianapolis 500 practice day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is dubbed Fast Friday, and the speed were indeed fast.
After the track was dried from morning rain showers, drivers were set loose to run the fastest speeds they run all season by utilizing higher boost pressures made available to simulate this weekend’s qualifying rules.
In contrast to the previous three days of practice, teams did their best to take turns and complete laps with no other cars around.
Conor Daly’s first run allowed him to set the fastest lap of the day up to that point, and when he climbed from the car he commented that the team was going to install a taller sixth gear because he was running out of RPM.
Later in the day, speeds climbed even higher. By time the clock ran to zero, Scott McLaughlin was on top of the no-tow timesheet.
The Team Penske driver and 2024 Indy 500 pole winner set a fast lap at 232.874 MPH, and was comfortable enough to only make one simulation run all day.
Alex Palou was second quick without a tow, just ahead of Rinus VeeKay in third.
Ed Carpenter racing looked quick all afternoon, setting the fourth and fifth quick solo laps with Alexander Rossi and Christian Rasmussen respectively.
Not all drivers were able to find four consecutive laps without traffic, however, skewing the results a little bit if they had planned to use their hybrid power on the final lap.
Marcus Ericsson was decently high up the order, but was not quick without another car in front providing a tow. Other Andretti drivers struggled even more, with the team even fighting against power loss on the Kyle Kirkwood’s #27 Honda.
Will Power was way down the timesheets with the 28th best lap time, and also has a lot of unanswered questions heading into qualifying.
A few Chevy-powered cars suffered engine troubles throughout the day, including Santino Ferrucci late in the afternoon. The supplier is working with teams to see if there is a common cause and if a fix can be implemented on short notice.
The next sessions on the schedule are the ones that count. First up is a full-field qualifying session where the back half of the field is locked in, followed by further rounds to whittle down and decide the pole winner.
Saturday’s forecast calls for periodic rain, which could shorten the amount of track time available for drivers to get their runs in.
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