began a strong defense of his Indianapolis 500 crown by pacing the opening day of practice on Tuesday.
The Spaniard, who was the first driver to go out and kickstart the six-hour session, was relatively quiet due to what he called a “balancing issue.” However, he returned in the final 10 minutes and he threw down a 225.937mph flyer to go fastest in the #10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
Meyer Shank Racing’s Marcus Armstrong also made his presence felt and held the top spot for the majority of the day with a quick lap of 225.895mph, which held until being bumped late by Palou.
Conor Daly, driving the #23 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, was the fastest Chevrolet in third at 225.838mph. Two-time Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden, also a two-time IndyCar Series champion, was fourth on the speedcharts at 225.121mph in the #2 Team Penske Chevrolet.
Six-time series champion Scott Dixon, the 2008 Indy 500 winner, was fifth at 225.087mph in the #9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) was sixth, ahead of Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti Global) in seventh. Scott McLaughlin (Team Penske) was eighth, followed by Romain Grosjean (Dale Coyne Racing) ninth, and David Malukas (Team Penske) 10th.
In addition to being among the top 10 in tow speeds, Kirkwood was also the fastest on the no-tow list at 222.062mph. His teammate, 2018 Indy 500 winner Will Power, was second among no-tow speeds (221.455mph). Jack “Hollywood” Harvey was third for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.
ECR’s Alexander Rossi, who was 13th on the overall speedcharts at 223.585mph, pounded the pavement of Indianapolis Motor Speedway for a session-most 116 laps. He was the only driver to break the century mark. Daly and Christian Rasmussen, Rossi’s teammate, were tied for second-most laps logged at 89 each. Ryan Hunter-Reay, the 2014 Indy 500 winner who is making his first appearance in a one-off with Arrow McLaren, had the fewest laps ran on the afternoon with 27. Palou was second-least with 28.
There were no incidents in the session.
Day 1: Indy 500 Practice Overall Results
1
10
Alex Palou
Chip Ganassi Racing
28
39.8342
225.937
2
66
Marcus Armstrong
Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian
46
39.8416
0.0074
225.895
3
23
Conor Daly
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
89
39.8516
0.0174
225.838
4
2
Josef Newgarden
Team Penske
71
39.9785
0.1443
225.121
5
9
Scott Dixon
Chip Ganassi Racing
61
39.9845
0.1503
225.087
6
15
Graham Rahal
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
47
40.0411
0.2069
224.769
7
27
Kyle Kirkwood
Andretti Global
47
40.0922
0.2580
224.483
8
3
Scott McLaughlin
Team Penske
28
40.1068
0.2726
224.401
9
18
Romain Grosjean
Dale Coyne Racing
58
40.1963
0.3621
223.901
10
12
David Malukas
Team Penske
53
40.2064
0.3722
223.845
11
24
Jack Harvey
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
58
40.2247
0.3905
223.743
12
5
Patricio O'Ward
Arrow McLaren
78
40.2252
0.3910
223.740
13
20
Alexander Rossi
Ed Carpenter Racing
116
40.2531
0.4189
223.585
14
75
Takuma Sato
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
36
40.2818
0.4476
223.426
15
06
Helio Castroneves
Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian
55
40.2988
0.4646
223.332
16
33
Ed Carpenter
Ed Carpenter Racing
56
40.3051
0.4709
223.297
17
51
Jacob Abel
Abel Motorsports
63
40.3308
0.4966
223.155
18
14
Santino Ferrucci
A.J. Foyt Enterprises
53
40.3714
0.5372
222.930
19
76
Rinus VeeKay
Juncos Hollinger Racing
82
40.3920
0.5578
222.816
20
8
Kyffin Simpson
Chip Ganassi Racing
80
40.4003
0.5661
222.771
21
21
Christian Rasmussen
Ed Carpenter Racing
89
40.4272
0.5930
222.622
22
60
Felix Rosenqvist
Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian
84
40.4299
0.5957
222.608
23
28
Marcus Ericsson
Andretti Global
45
40.4851
0.6509
222.304
24
6
Nolan Siegel
Arrow McLaren
82
40.5096
0.6754
222.170
25
77
Ray Robb Sting
Juncos Hollinger Racing
70
40.5502
0.7160
221.947
26
19
Dennis Hauger
Dale Coyne Racing
12
40.6169
0.7827
221.583
27
26
Will Power
Andretti Global
44
40.6403
0.8061
221.455
28
7
Christian Lundgaard
Arrow McLaren
68
40.7027
0.8685
221.116
29
31
Ryan Hunter-Reay
Arrow McLaren
27
40.7171
0.8829
221.037
30
4
Caio Collet
A.J. Foyt Enterprises
59
40.7413
0.9071
220.906
31
45
Louis Foster
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
76
40.7573
0.9231
220.819
32
47
Mick Schumacher
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
84
40.8570
1.0228
220.280
33
11
Katherine Legge
HMD Motorsports with A.J. Foyt Racing
51
41.2269
1.3927
218.304
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