Graham Rahal of Rahal Letterman Lanigan-Honda and Will Power (Penske-Chevy) were the first to break into the 225mph bracket around the iconic 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway and duck under the 40sec barrier, but two-time IndyCar champion Newgarden’s top lap pushed the best speed up to 226.819mph.
He was later joined in that stratosphere by two-time Indy winner Juan Pablo Montoya, in the Arrow McLaren SP-Chevy, but the Colombian legend was displaced by another two-timer, defending winner Takuma Sato of RLL-Honda.
Fourth went to Scott Dixon, the 2008 winner for Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda and six-time IndyCar champ.
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Rahal’s best effort kept him fourth, and he also had the satisfaction of holding onto the best lap set without the aid of a tow, a 221.949 effort. Second on that chart went to Penske’s rookie Scott McLaughlin, who also turned the most laps of the day, 195 – almost a complete race distance.
Conor Daly eclipsed his earlier best to vault into sixth place for Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevy, while Meyer Shank Racing-Honda saw both its drivers – Jack Harvey and three-time Indy winner Helio Castroneves – get into the top 10 overall, leading their semi-teammates from Andretti Autosport.
That said Andretti’s former winners Alex Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay both made it into the top five no-tow speeds.
Former Indy 500 rookies of the year Santino Ferrucci (RLL-Honda) and Simona De Silvestro (Paretta Autosport-Chevrolet) were 20th and 21st in the overall speeds, and 29th and 24th respectively in the no-tow charts.
P | No | Name | FTime | Diff | Gap | FL | Laps | FSpeed | Engine | Team |
1 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | 39.6792 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 60 | 121 | 226.819 | Chevy | Team Penske |
2 | 30 | Takuma Sato | 39.7534 | 0.0742 | 0.0742 | 47 | 60 | 226.396 | Honda | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
3 | 86 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 39.8013 | 0.1221 | 0.0479 | 43 | 68 | 226.123 | Chevy | Arrow McLaren SP |
4 | 9 | Scott Dixon | 39.8395 | 0.1603 | 0.0382 | 65 | 126 | 225.906 | Honda | Chip Ganassi Racing |
5 | 15 | Graham Rahal | 39.8859 | 0.2067 | 0.0464 | 40 | 157 | 225.644 | Honda | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
6 | 47 | Conor Daly | 39.8868 | 0.2076 | 0.0009 | 119 | 137 | 225.639 | Chevy | Ed Carpenter Racing |
7 | 12 | Will Power | 39.9112 | 0.2320 | 0.0244 | 51 | 162 | 225.501 | Chevy | Team Penske |
8 | 60 | Jack Harvey | 39.9527 | 0.2735 | 0.0415 | 139 | 140 | 225.266 | Honda | Meyer Shank Racing |
9 | 5 | Pato O’Ward | 39.9790 | 0.2998 | 0.0263 | 108 | 156 | 225.118 | Chevy | Arrow McLaren SP |
10 | 06 | Helio Castroneves | 39.9868 | 0.3076 | 0.0078 | 105 | 128 | 225.074 | Honda | Meyer Shank Racing |
11 | 22 | Simon Pagenaud | 39.9999 | 0.3207 | 0.0131 | 104 | 184 | 225.001 | Chevy | Team Penske |
12 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | 40.0091 | 0.3299 | 0.0092 | 119 | 134 | 224.949 | Honda | Andretti Autosport |
13 | 26 | Colton Herta | 40.1422 | 0.4630 | 0.1331 | 42 | 164 | 224.203 | Honda | Andretti Autosport |
14 | 20 | Ed Carpenter | 40.1524 | 0.4732 | 0.0102 | 144 | 146 | 224.146 | Chevy | Ed Carpenter Racing |
15 | 10 | Alex Palou | 40.1545 | 0.4753 | 0.0021 | 20 | 112 | 224.134 | Honda | Chip Ganassi Racing |
16 | 7 | Felix Rosenqvist | 40.1835 | 0.5043 | 0.0290 | 112 | 126 | 223.973 | Chevy | Arrow McLaren SP |
17 | 18 | Ed Jones | 40.1956 | 0.5164 | 0.0121 | 15 | 104 | 223.905 | Honda | Dale Coyne Racing |
18 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin | 40.2131 | 0.5339 | 0.0175 | 151 | 195 | 223.808 | Chevy | Team Penske |
19 | 27 | Alexander Rossi | 40.2440 | 0.5648 | 0.0309 | 117 | 136 | 223.636 | Honda | Andretti Autosport |
20 | 45 | Santino Ferrucci | 40.2650 | 0.5858 | 0.0210 | 85 | 137 | 223.519 | Honda | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
21 | 16 | Simona De Silvestro | 40.2760 | 0.5968 | 0.0110 | 50 | 92 | 223.458 | Chevy | Paretta Autosport |
22 | 29 | James Hinchcliffe | 40.2760 | 0.5968 | 0.0000 | 87 | 127 | 223.458 | Honda | Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport |
23 | 48 | Tony Kanaan | 40.3404 | 0.6612 | 0.0644 | 38 | 99 | 223.101 | Honda | Chip Ganassi Racing |
24 | 24 | Sage Karam | 40.3415 | 0.6623 | 0.0011 | 71 | 81 | 223.095 | Chevy | Dreyer & Reinbold Racing |
25 | 98 | Marco Andretti | 40.3923 | 0.7131 | 0.0508 | 113 | 138 | 222.815 | Honda | Andretti Herta-Haupert w/Marco & Curb-Agajanian |
26 | 14 | Sebastien Bourdais | 40.4263 | 0.7471 | 0.0340 | 119 | 125 | 222.627 | Chevy | AJ Foyt Enterprises |
27 | 59 | Max Chilton | 40.4935 | 0.8143 | 0.0672 | 3 | 114 | 222.258 | Chevy | Carlin |
28 | 8 | Marcus Ericsson | 40.5159 | 0.8367 | 0.0224 | 147 | 188 | 222.135 | Honda | Chip Ganassi Racing |
29 | 51 | Pietro Fittipaldi | 40.5509 | 0.8717 | 0.0350 | 135 | 144 | 221.943 | Honda | Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing |
30 | 4 | Dalton Kellett | 40.8727 | 1.1935 | 0.3218 | 63 | 97 | 220.196 | Chevy | AJ Foyt Enterprises |
31 | 52 | Cody Ware | 41.2017 | 1.5225 | 0.3290 | 25 | 58 | 218.438 | Honda | Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing |