After a record-setting weekend of qualifying for the 106th Indianapolis 500, drivers strapped back into their rocket ships on Monday for a two-hour practice session that was once again dominated by Chip Ganassi Racing. The team had four of their five cars inside the top five by the end of the session, led by Alex Palou.
The reigning series champion finished 2nd in last year’s race, and starts from the same position next Sunday. He will be next to his teammate Scott Dixon, who earned his fifth Indy 500 pole yesterday with a record-setting four-lap average. The six-time champion was second-fastest today, with teammate Jimmie Johnson 3rd, two-time Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato 4th, and Marcus Ericsson rounding out the top five.
All 33 drivers took to the course early in the afternoon, with low temperatures and sunshine all around the track. Unfortunately, the first crash of the month came with about 30 minutes remaining in the session.
Dalton Kellett was entering Turn 1 on the outside of Romain Grosjean when he lost the back end of his No. 4 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet. He spun and slammed into the outside SAFER barrier fairly hard, but was not injured. The team will have plenty of time to make repairs ahead of the next on-track action, which doesn’t come until Friday.
“I don’t think this sets us back that far,” he said. “I still feel like on Sunday we’ll be ready to go. I got a run on him on the outside and he stayed in it and I’m thinking he’s going to slot back in, but it’s fair that Grosjean didn’t let me go because I’m the passing car.”
The full field combined to turn 2,602 laps today as they dialed in their new race engines. Sato completed the most laps (106) while Palou and teammate Tony Kanaan did the fewest (31) laps in the afternoon. Teams also had a chance to work on their pit stops, with crews prepping for their entry into the pit box, and drivers practicing entering pit lane from the exit of Turn 4 for the first time…
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