The official practice of Indy 500 has started. On the first day of the practice, Mr. Takuma Sato marked the fastest lap
Indianapolis Motor SpeedwayThe Indianapolis 500, which is proud of the world's longest history and the largest scale in the world, is held for the 106th time this year. Races that have gone along with the history of the car have traditionally spent almost a whole month of May from practice to the final race.
The big race, which always competes at the cutting edge of its period, has been held for a long time with careful preparation and competing, so many innovative technologies have been created and many famous battles have been fought.
Since the end of the 1990s, the number of driving days for the Indy 500 has been gradually reduced in order to curb the soaring costs of participating teams. Still, it hasn't changed to the point where it's completed in one weekend like a regular race, and even this year the practice is four days before the qualifying, and two more days after the two-day weekend qualifying. After that, we will reach the final race.
Run time of 2 hours was established in the morning in the afternoon for 31 hours on the first day of the practice for the 106th Indy 500 of this year on May 17. Although the races have been shortened, the Indy 500 still has a much longer practice time than other races, so the level of competition with machines with refined settings is high. We will see the race that the level of the competition is elevated.
In Indianapolis, the capital of the state of Indiana in the eastern United States, a refreshing blue sky spread from the morning, and comfortable conditions with a cozy wind continued throughout a day. The temperature was 19 degrees Celsius even when it was coolest and rose to 27 degrees Celsius during the afternoon session.
33 entries drove in historical oval course of 2.5 miles in total length, and in practice session 1 in the morning Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing) recorded the fastest lap of 39.6268 seconds = 227.119 mph, Takuma Sato (Dale Coyne Racing with RWR) recorded the fastest lap of 39.3118 seconds = 228.939 mph in Practice 2, which began at 3：00 pm after the practice for the drivers who participate for the first time in a long time.
Dixon is the 2008 Indianapolis 500 winner, and Sato is the driver who won Indianapolis 500 twice in 2017 and 2020. Veteran Honda drivers, who have set brilliant records in traditional big races, got off to a fantastic start. And in Practice 1, Marcus Ericsson (Chip Ganassi Racing) was second behind Dixon, and spot-entry Marco Andretti (Andretti Herta Autosport with Marco & Curb-Agajanian) was fifth, Alex Palou (Chip Ganassi Racing) was 8th and Honda drivers were 1-2, with 4 drivers in the top 10.
In addition, in Practice 2 in the afternoon, Sato, Dixon, rookie Jimmy Johnson (Chip Ganassi Racing), Ericsson in that order, Honda dominated the top four, Pagenaud was sixth, David Marcus who is a rookie and Sato's teammate (Dale Coyne Racing with HMD) was 7th, Tony Kanaan (Chip Ganassi Racing), who won the 2013 Indy 500 and is participating in the spot, was 9th, Andretti was 10th. There are 8 Honda drivers in the top 10. And for 11th and 12th who both also use the Honda engines were rookie Devlin DeFrancesco (Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport) and Simon Pagenaud (Meyer Shank Racing) who was the 2019 Indy 500 winner.
Dixon drove 75 laps and Sato drove 68 laps, and the most laps driven was 132 by Jack Harvey (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) in two practices.
2nd day practice will start from noon on 18th May, and it will end at 6pm with one extra hour compare to 1st day.
Scott Dixon was leading all day today, but I was able to record the fastest lap by getting a lot of drafting during the last run. It was a very happy day for me. If one can have a set of new tires and large drafting [running directly behind the preceding vehicle to reduce air resistance], I think anyone can achieve that speed.To be honest, our team couldn't get the morning practice as smooth as we wanted. I had to go back to the garage and did a lot of checks because my machine didn't perform right. In the afternoon, we were able to make complete change, and I was able to record fast speeds. The handling of the machine has also improved. My teammate's machine also seem to be good. This 1st day of practice was the proof of how awesome Dale Coyne Racing prepared our machine during the winter.
Scott Dixon was leading all day today, but I was able to record the fastest lap by getting a lot of drafting during the last run. It was a very happy day for me. If one can have a set of new tires and large drafting [running directly behind the preceding vehicle to reduce air resistance], I think anyone can achieve that speed.To be honest, our team couldn't get the morning practice as smooth as we wanted. I had to go back to the garage and did a lot of checks because my machine didn't perform right. In the afternoon, we were able to make complete change, and I was able to record fast speeds. The handling of the machine has also improved. My teammate's machine also seem to be good. This 1st day of practice was the proof of how awesome Dale Coyne Racing prepared our machine during the winter.
It was a very good day not only for myself, but for Chip Ganassi Racing as a whole. From the start, the machine was performing very good, and I was able to complete many test items. Not just Indy 500, but it is always very difficult to try all the settings prepared for a race. However, our team has 5 cars, and everyone has high ability, so we can pass many tests in a short time. Even if they are the same thing, we may feel differently depending on the driver, so in that case, each driver did actual checks. After tomorrow, we will continue to do many tests, and the setting will gradually approach the important point. Just as many drivers did today, driving as much traffic as we can is necessary to make a competitive machine in the race. Last year, I started to become confused when I started trying out settings for qualifying around Thursday, so I plan to proceed carefully with the settings this year. Today was the only first day, but we felt that our machine were very competitive. And, of course, there is room for improvement in any machine. Again, today is still the first day of driving. I don't think anyone has shown all their abilities yet.
It was a very good day not only for myself, but for Chip Ganassi Racing as a whole. From the start, the machine was performing very good, and I was able to complete many test items. Not just Indy 500, but it is always very difficult to try all the settings prepared for a race. However, our team has 5 cars, and everyone has high ability, so we can pass many tests in a short time. Even if they are the same thing, we may feel differently depending on the driver, so in that case, each driver did actual checks. After tomorrow, we will continue to do many tests, and the setting will gradually approach the important point. Just as many drivers did today, driving as much traffic as we can is necessary to make a competitive machine in the race. Last year, I started to become confused when I started trying out settings for qualifying around Thursday, so I plan to proceed carefully with the settings this year. Today was the only first day, but we felt that our machine were very competitive. And, of course, there is room for improvement in any machine. Again, today is still the first day of driving. I don't think anyone has shown all their abilities yet.
