Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Motorsport
Motorsport
Sport
David Malsher-Lopez

Josef Newgarden tops Indy 500 testing with 229mph lap

Newgarden’s best run came on his 89th of 119 laps, carving a 39.2125sec lap around the iconic 2.5-mile oval to set fastest speed at 229.519mph.

In today’s four hour session – delayed by morning rain and mist – 15 cars beat Scott Dixon’s marker from yesterday’s foreshortened test.

Newgarden’s closest challenger was two-time Indy 500 champion Takuma Sato in the Dale Coyne Racing with RWR-Honda, who was less than 0.1mph slower than the Penske driver, and ahead of Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda’s extra entry, driven by 2013 Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan and Dixon.

Last year’s Indy 500 Rookie of the Year Scott McLaughlin was fifth ahead of the fastest Andretti Autosport-Honda, the Kulr-backed #98 piloted by 2020 polesitter Marco Andretti.

Alex Palou, last year’s runner-up was seventh for Ganassi ahead of IndyCar Series sophomore but Indy 500 rookie Jimmie Johnson, who was the first driver to crack a 225mph lap and also looked very comfortable in traffic.

Marcus Ericsson ensured all five Ganassi entries were in the Top 10, and the Swede also turned the most laps today, at 148.

Despite that encouragement for Ganassi-Honda, the top six laps set without the aid of a tow came from Chevrolet drivers, the fastest of whom was Rinus VeeKay in the #21 Ed Carpenter Racing entry. His car also looked impressively stable in the draft, appearing able to pull out and pass anyone who got in his way.

The three Arrow McLaren SP-Chevys of Felix Rosenqvist, Pato O’Ward and Juan Pablo Montoya may have only ended up ninth, 21st and 31st respectively but all three were able to hang tight to cars in front through the turns, and two-time Indy winner reported that he was in a happy place with the car, and far more comfortable with its handling than last year.

2018 Indy winner Will Power said he was very happy with his race setup, and his car appeared to be a rocketship through Turn 4, but he admitted in terms of outright pace no one would know where they stand until the boost is turned up and cars run solo without the aid of a draft during qualifying simulations.

Helio Castroneves, who suffered a shunt at Turn 2 yesterday, did not return to action today, as predicted. There were no accidents today, the only yellows coming for track inspections, although at least twice Indy rookie Romain Grosjean drifted high in dirty air through Turn 1 and flirted with the wall.

P

#

Driver

FTime

FL

Laps

FSpeed

Engine

Team

1

2

Josef Newgarden

39.2125

89

119

229.519

Chevy

Team Penske

2

51

Takuma Sato

39.2282

61

84

229.427

Honda

Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR

3

1

Tony Kanaan

39.3413

53

72

228.767

Honda

Chip Ganassi Racing

4

9

Scott Dixon

39.3548

109

115

228.689

Honda

Chip Ganassi Racing

5

3

Scott McLaughlin

39.4051

116

127

228.397

Chevy

Team Penske

6

98

Marco Andretti

39.4417

113

113

228.185

Honda

Andretti Herta Autosport w/ Marco & Curb

7

10

Alex Palou

39.4636

105

147

228.058

Honda

Chip Ganassi Racing

8

48

Jimmie Johnson

39.4910

129

138

227.900

Honda

Chip Ganassi Racing

9

7

Felix Rosenqvist

39.5062

43

123

227.812

Chevy

Arrow McLaren SP

10

8

Marcus Ericsson

39.5110

35

148

227.785

Honda

Chip Ganassi Racing

11

60

Simon Pagenaud

39.5474

63

90

227.575

Honda

Meyer Shank Racing

12

23

Santino Ferrucci

39.5623

123

124

227.489

Chevy

Dreyer & Reinbold

13

24

Sage Karam

39.5734

103

109

227.425

Chevy

Dreyer & Reinbold

14

12

Will Power

39.6120

82

114

227.204

Chevy

Team Penske

15

21

Rinus VeeKay

39.6137

77

101

227.194

Chevy

Ed Carpenter Racing

16

28

Romain Grosjean

39.6445

131

145

227.018

Honda

Andretti Autosport

17

77

Callum Ilott

39.7183

97

100

226.596

Chevy

Juncos Hollinger Racing

18

20

Conor Daly

39.7322

61

84

226.517

Chevy

Ed Carpenter Racing

19

29

Devlin DeFrancesco

39.7762

95

100

226.266

Honda

Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport

20

45

Jack Harvey

39.7836

57

83

226.224

Honda

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

21

5

Pato O'Ward

39.7880

15

99

226.199

Chevy

Arrow McLaren SP

22

18

David Malukas

39.8030

66

100

226.114

Honda

Dale Coyne Racing with HMD

23

27

Alexander Rossi

39.8145

138

138

226.048

Honda

Andretti Autosport

24

15

Graham Rahal

39.8504

77

108

225.845

Honda

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

25

11

JR Hildebrand

39.8866

34

51

225.640

Chevy

AJ Foyt Enterprises

26

14

Kyle Kirkwood

39.8974

93

97

225.579

Chevy

AJ Foyt Enterprises

27

4

Dalton Kellett

40.0159

65

65

224.911

Chevy

AJ Foyt Enterprises

28

26

Colton Herta

40.0381

114

134

224.786

Honda

Andretti Autosport

29

30

Christian Lundgaard

40.1454

97

109

224.185

Honda

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

30

33

Ed Carpenter

40.1497

10

63

224.161

Chevy

Ed Carpenter Racing

31

6

Juan Pablo Montoya

40.1822

40

67

223.980

Chevy

Arrow McLaren SP

 

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.