Practice for the 106th Indianapolis 500 began today in sunny Speedway, Indiana.
Opening Day is always filled with anticipation, eagerness, and plenty of nerves. All 33 drivers entered in this year’s race turned laps on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with two-time Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato topping the overall speed chart with a lap at 228.939 mph.
The Dale Coyne Racing driver took the top spot with less than five minutes remaining in the session. Scott Dixon sat at the top of the leaderboard for most of the day and finished 2nd on the speed chart. His teammates Jimmie Johnson and Marcus Ericsson were just behind him, with Rinus VeeKay rounding out the top five. Reigning series champion Alex Palou was 6th fastest, putting all four Chip Ganassi Racing cars inside the top six.
“We had a big tow. In Happy Hour, if you have new tires, I think you can do that,” Sato said. “I’m pretty happy today. To be honest, this morning wasn’t as smooth as we wished. We had to go back to the garage and check up on lots of things because there was something we were not very happy with. But in the end, in the afternoon we quickly turned on good speed. I’m very happy with the 51 car. Dale Coyne Racing did a good job.”
VeeKay had the fastest no-tow speed on Tuesday but he and Josef Newgarden (8th) were the only two Chevrolet drivers in the top ten of the overall speed chart. There were a total of 3,229 laps turned by the 33 drivers today, with Dalton Kellett (149) completing the most. The best news of the day is that there were no incidents on track, although there was a caution in the afternoon for a fox that found its way onto the track.
Weather conditions were optimal in the afternoon, but even in the morning teams were able to get a gauge for cooler conditions, should those materialize on race day later this month. It was a full day of action but it felt much more like two separate sessions. While nearly every driver participated in the first two hours of…
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