For one day, at least, Ryan Hunter-Reay ruled the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
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Some competitors may not have shown all their cards yet, but sitting atop the speed chart today with a lap of 228.202 miles per hour, the 2014 Indianapolis 500 champion feeling optimistic. That was an Andretti follow up to Monday’s practice (Tuesday’s was rained out) when Marco Andretti posted the fastest overall lap, at 228.978. “Coming off the year we had here last year where I couldn’t get the auto to do anything I needed it to, it’s nice to have the 28 DHL Honda up towards the front, especially here at Indy”, Hunter-Reay said.
In total, drivers racked-up 2,779 laps on the oval, but none faster than the driver of the 28 vehicle.
“It’s nearly weird because two months ago it was all about, ‘Oh my gosh, Chevy is just dominating, ‘ and Honda has just done a phenomenal job to keep their heads down, keep working and they’ve come here very well-prepared”, said Bell, a one-off competitor at the Indy 500 who serves as an NBCSN analyst at most Verizon IndyCar Series races.
In ambient temperatures of 71deg, Carlos Munoz in the #26 Andretti Autosport-Honda was the first to reach 227mph, but after an hour, Chaves went fastest, as Power and two-time Indy victor Juan Pablo Montoya put their Penske-Chevrolets into clean air and set speeds of 225.381 and 225.156mph respectively.
Speeds are expected to increase in practice Friday when the turbocharger boost level for the Chevrolet and Honda 2.2-liter, twin-turbocharged V-6 engines is raised 10 kPa to 140. The victory was Franchitti’s third at Indy. Much of the late afternoon saw cars running in large packs to get the feel of driving in traffic. “We’ll just try to put everything back together and then pick up where we left off”. Montoya lost power to his vehicle midway through Thursday’s practice and Hunter-Reay lost his engine with under two hours remaining in practice, a day after posting the fastest lap during practice on Wednesday. “That may be a lot pressure for Conor, but I really don’t (care)”, McAfee said. “Hopefully I can get down to Englishtown (N.J.), get to experience what NHRA racing is all about and see all those similarities and differences in my own eyes”.
Other global racers in the title hunt include 2008 Indy 500 victor Scott Dixon of New Zealand, 2013 victor Tony Kanaan of Brazil, Russian Mikhail Aleshin, Aussie Will Power, Japan’s Takuma Sato, Canadians James Hinchcliffe and Alex Tagliani, Frenchmen Sebastien Bourdais and Simon Pagenaud, Colombia’s Gabby Chavez, Spain’s Oriol Servia and Britain’s Jack Hawksworth. But Montoya, who drives for Penske, has won two of his first three starts in the 500.
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Only four of the top 10 were Chevrolets. “I am very proud of the many Ilmor employees who have contributed to this achievement”. After all, he does have an Indy 500 win on his resume. “Team Penske is proud to be associated with Ilmor and the legacy of success that the company continues to build in motorsports”, Penske said.
