Takuma Sato marks a fastest lap two days in a row
Indianapolis Motor SpeedwayThe 106th INDY500 Practice Day 3 has ended. On Wednesday, the second day (Practice 3) forced all 33 IndyCars to halt without running even a lap, due to the rain started just before the practice.
However, fortunately Thursday's Practice 4 started running at noon as scheduled with a successful six-hour session.
Clouds being out most of the day, Takuma Sato (Dale Coyne Racing with RWR), who was also the fastest on the first day, marked the fastest lap of 39.5572 = 227.519 mph in the evening. Although there is a day off due to rain, the top time record for two consecutive days in practice is the first time for Sato, who has a record of two wins for the INDY500 in his 13th challenge.
The sun was shining during the day, and the maximum temperature was 27 degrees Celsius on the third day of practice. But during the second half of the practice session the temperature peaking at 3：30pm, and after that temperature decreased because of clouds blocking the sun. This condition made easier to mark a best lap for drivers. At 5：30 pm, 30 minutes before the end of the session, Sato marked a fastest lap by taking the top spot from Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing) like in the afternoon of the first day of the run
David Marcus (Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports) who is Sato's teammate and rookie recorded an average lap of 266.869 mph which was ranked second at that time just after 3：00 pm, when it was still hot. Marcus, the first Indianapolis challenger, is only 20 years old, but he continued to run steadily and finished Practice 4 in 3rd place.
The Honda team which set the fastest time for two consecutive days took the top three places on Thursday for the second day of the practice, following the top four places on the first day of practice.
Stock car race champion Jimmie Johnson (Chip Ganassi Racing), who has participated in IndyCar street and road course races since last season and has participated in the full season including oval races this year, was third place for 1st day of the practice. He is fifth on Thursday. He is in Top 5 for two days in a row.
Marcus Ericsson (Chip Ganassi Racing), who was 4th on the first day, also set the 7th place on Thursday. The 2018 INDY500 winner Simon Pagenaud (Dale Coyne Racing with RWR) recorded 9th fastest speed on the second day of the run, so that makes six Honda drivers in the top ten.
The practice will be six hours long on Friday which is for a preparation for the two-day qualifying session on Saturday and Sunday. Due to the rules exclusively for INDY500, qualifying will be contested by using a high-power engine with increased turbo boost pressure. In preparation for the high-speed time trial, all cars will run with high-power qualifying specs on Friday. For the past two days, the main focus was on group driving, but on Friday, each car will make continuous laps without using other machine’s drafting. We will change the spec for qualifying race which is 4-lap continuous attack style.
Today was the second day of running with normal turbo boost pressure as the practice was canceled due to rain on Wednesday. Our team was in the top three with two cars. It was a day like I got a bonus. More importantly, handling performance of our machine in the traffic has been improving. I'm happy to be at the top for the fastest lap, but today I wasn't in a position to make an accurate comparison with my rivals. Anyone who put on new tires and ran in a large group during a cool time called happy hour would have been able drive a lap. Still, overall, today was a wonderful day. I was able to achieve the great progress in running in the traffic. And tomorrow is "Fast Friday". The Dale Coyne Racing car has been fast in the INDY500 qualifying, so I'm very excited to run on it.
It was a very interesting day. Everyone was doing many laps. With more than half of that time, we did our racing setting. As a result, I think the machine was became a satisfactory finish by some conditions. However, the handling was bad, when I was 6th or lower position in one line. In order to be better, I found that it was necessary for us to consider deeper how much downforce should be set in the race setting. Tomorrow is the day before the start of qualifying, and the turbo boost pressure will change to a higher one for qualifying. I think we will start running with a modest qualifying setting.
On the third day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, we were able to achieve very good results. Yesterday, the second day, I couldn't do anything because of the rain. I was doing the laundry at the motor home. Today, the second day of driving is over, and it's going very well. The machine has been very good since the start of the first day of the run, and I was able to put myself in 7th place for the first day. And even after the second day, my personal best is 7th overall.Today we have set a lap time for 3rd place because of our team’s effort. I am very pleased. I feel that the finish of the machine is very good. Teammate Takuma ran fastest on both days. That's amazing. Tomorrow, our machine will be running with a complete qualifying setting. Tomorrow we will check the machine settings so that we can demonstrate our speed even in qualifying. Today, I ran as much as possible in the traffic, suffered from the air pocket, and used drafting [running directly behind the preceding vehicle to reduce air resistance]. We still have something to prepare for the final race, but we are reaching the level we are aiming for.I am very happy with our performance so far. I hope things will go well like this.
