INDIANAPOLIS — The second day of the Indy 500 Open Test was delayed by four-and-a-half hours because of heavy overnight rain but concluded with four fantastic hours of track activity Thursday afternoon at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Once the track was dried and the slick pit warmup lane that had caused issues in Wednesday’s session had been reconditioned, the action at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway looked more like race day for the Indy 500 than a test session.
Thirty-one of the 32 cars entered in the 106th Indy 500 were on track, many times running in large groups. The only driver/car combination that wasn’t on the course Thursday was defending winner Helio Castroneves. The four-time Indy 500 was one of three former winners to spin out and crash while leaving the pit warmup lane on Wednesday.
Castroneves’ No. 06 Honda was sent back to Meyer-Shank Racing in Pataskala, Ohio – a suburb of Columbus, Ohio — for repair. It was the same car Castroneves drove to victory in last year’s 105th Indianapolis 500.
By the end of the frantic four-hour test session that ran from 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time to 6:30 p.m., it was Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden on top with a fast speed of 229.519 mph around the 2.5-mile oval.
Team Penske had two Chevrolets in the top five, including Newgarden in the No. 2 and Scott McLaughlin, who was fifth fastest at 228.397 mph in the No. 3 Chevrolet.
Takuma Sato (IndyCar photo)
Takuma Sato was second quick aboard the Dale Coyne Racing with RWR No. 51 Honda at 229.427 mph, while Tony Kanaan was third fastest in the No. 1 American Legion Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing at 228.767 mph.
Six-time NTT IndyCar Series champion and 2008 Indianapolis 500 winner Scott Dixon was fourth at 228.689 mph.
There were 3,267 laps run by the 31 cars in the four-hour session that ran incident free.
Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, driving with a pin in a broken right hand, was eighth-fastest at 227.900 mph in the No. 48 Carvana/American Legion Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing. He also ran 138 laps.
Marco Andretti was sixth in the No. 98 Honda at 228.185 mph and defending NTT IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou’s No. 10 Honda at 228.058 mph.
Marcus Ericsson ran 148 laps, the most of any driver on Thursday. Palou ran 147 laps.
Track maintenance crews at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway worked throughout the night to treat the hazardous area of the pit warmup lane that caused several incidents during Wednesday’s Indy 500 Open Test.
According to IndyCar, extensive tire dragging, and brushing was performed using two 800-pound tractor tires to put rubber down and remove any extra Rapid Penetrating Emulsion treatment.
RPE was used on the track in 2018 to seal the surface. The pit warmup lane had that treatment applied over this offseason.
A key part of what makes RPE effective is its penetrating, air-void-filling capability.
Unlike a crack seal that simply covers the surface of a crack, RPE soaks into the pavement itself and decreases the permeability of the surface to which it’s applied.
The process on the pit warmup lane was concluded past 12 midnight Eastern Time.
Heavy rain swept through the Indianapolis area overnight and concluded around 9 a.m. ET.
IndyCar had to completely dry the track from the overnight rain and then Firestone officials had to re-scan the warmup lane to evaluate the affected areas.
Former Indy 500 winners Alexander Rossi, Castroneves and Will Power lost control of their cars on the pit warmup lane in three separate crashes during Wednesday’s test session.
Once Firestone completed the rescan, the dark, rainy clouds had been replaced with bright sunshine and warmer temperatures. That allowed the teams and drivers to participate in one of the more impressive speed session at IMS in recent years.
Keyword: Impressive Speed During Frantic Indy Test