The Australian clocked a session-best 227.026 mph lap late on Wednesday to be the only driver in the 227 mph bracket.
Lightning near the speedway brought proceedings to a close with 30 minutes left on the clock.
Team Penske stablemate Josef Newgarden, a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner, was second with a 226.971 mph that stood atop the pylon for much of the day.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou and Scott Dixon were third and fourth respectively while Scott McLaughlin bookended the top five for Team Penske.
In all, drivers got roughly three hours of on-track running after proceedings were delayed by rain.
The day was incident-free, though there were curious scenes for IndyCar newcomers Prema who spent the lion’s share of the day parked up.
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Callum Ilott and Robert Shwartzman and were last and second-to-last, respectively. Ilott ran 16 laps with a 217.189 mph effort his best of the day. Shwartzman, meanwhile, cut just six laps with a 217.836 mph best.
Of the no-tow runners, Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood led the way on a 219.497 mph lap ahead of Newgarden and surprise packet Jacob Abel for Dale Coyne Racing, who could make his Indy 500 debut this year as long as he qualifies.
Practice is scheduled to continue on Thursday at 2:30am AEST.
Results: 109th Indianapolis 500, Practice 1
| Pos | Num | Driver | Team | Engine | Speed | Lap | Diff | Gap | Fastest Lap | Laps |
| 1 | 12 | Will Power | Team Penske | Chevy | 227.026 | 39.643 | 39.643 | 61 | 73 | |
| 2 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | Chevy | 226.971 | 39.6527 | 0.0097 | 0.0097 | 26 | 63 |
| 3 | 10 | Alex Palou | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 226.673 | 39.7047 | 0.0617 | 0.052 | 29 | 51 |
| 4 | 9 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 225.059 | 39.9896 | 0.3466 | 0.2849 | 4 | 53 |
| 5 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin | Team Penske | Chevy | 225.005 | 39.9991 | 0.3561 | 0.0095 | 41 | 52 |
| 6 | 6 | Helio Castroneves | Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb‑Agajanian | Honda | 224.523 | 40.085 | 0.442 | 0.0859 | 12 | 25 |
| 7 | 20 | Alexander Rossi | Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevy | 224.347 | 40.1165 | 0.4735 | 0.0315 | 20 | 51 |
| 8 | 66 | Marcus Armstrong | Meyer Shank Racing | Honda | 224.212 | 40.1405 | 0.4975 | 0.024 | 9 | 59 |
| 9 | 28 | Marcus Ericsson | Andretti Global | Honda | 224.169 | 40.1483 | 0.5053 | 0.0078 | 23 | 47 |
| 10 | 98 | Marco Andretti | Andretti Herta w/Marco & Curb‑Agananian | Honda | 224.147 | 40.1522 | 0.5092 | 0.0039 | 28 | 44 |
| 11 | 21 | Christian Rasmussen | Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevy | 223.933 | 40.1906 | 0.5476 | 0.0384 | 65 | 75 |
| 12 | 4 | David Malukas | AJ Foyt Enterprises | Chevy | 223.176 | 40.3269 | 0.6839 | 0.1363 | 8 | 35 |
| 13 | 24 | Jack Harvey | Dreyer & Reinbold Racing | Chevy | 222.822 | 40.3909 | 0.7479 | 0.064 | 27 | 47 |
| 14 | 23 | Ryan Hunter‑Reay | Dreyer & Reinbold Racing | Chevy | 222.704 | 40.4123 | 0.7693 | 0.0214 | 28 | 50 |
| 15 | 33 | Ed Carpenter | Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevy | 222.66 | 40.4204 | 0.7774 | 0.0081 | 25 | 39 |
| 16 | 26 | Colton Herta | Andretti Global w/Curb‑Agajanian | Honda | 222.537 | 40.4427 | 0.7997 | 0.0223 | 38 | 40 |
| 17 | 77 | Sting Ray Robb | Juncos Hollinger Racing | Chevy | 222.438 | 40.4608 | 0.8178 | 0.0181 | 34 | 37 |
| 18 | 60 | Felix Rosenqvist | Meyer Shank Racing | Honda | 222.335 | 40.4794 | 0.8364 | 0.0186 | 11 | 55 |
| 19 | 27 | Kyle Kirkwood | Andretti Global | Honda | 222.03 | 40.535 | 0.892 | 0.0556 | 37 | 39 |
| 20 | 6 | Nolan Siegel | Arrow McLaren | Chevy | 221.822 | 40.5731 | 0.9301 | 0.0381 | 40 | 69 |
| 21 | 76 | Conor Daly | Juncos Hollinger Racing | Chevy | 221.671 | 40.6008 | 0.9578 | 0.0277 | 13 | 33 |
| 22 | 8 | Kyffin Simpson | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 221.629 | 40.6084 | 0.9654 | 0.0076 | 72 | 84 |
| 23 | 7 | Christian Lundgaard | Arrow McLaren | Chevy | 221.262 | 40.6758 | 1.0328 | 0.0674 | 49 | 51 |
| 24 | 17 | Kyle Larson | Arrow McLaren | Chevy | 221.207 | 40.6858 | 1.0428 | 0.01 | 5 | 45 |
| 25 | 30 | Devlin DeFrancesco | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda | 221.201 | 40.687 | 1.044 | 0.0012 | 40 | 42 |
| 26 | 15 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda | 221.142 | 40.6978 | 1.0548 | 0.0108 | 33 | 35 |
| 27 | 14 | Santino Ferrucci | AJ Foyt Enterprises | Chevy | 221.048 | 40.7151 | 1.0721 | 0.0173 | 6 | 21 |
| 28 | 51 | Jacob Abel | Dale Coyne Racing | Honda | 220.983 | 40.7271 | 1.0841 | 0.012 | 36 | 40 |
| 29 | 5 | Pato O’Ward | Arrow McLaren | Chevy | 220.263 | 40.8602 | 1.2172 | 0.1331 | 33 | 35 |
| 30 | 45 | Louis Foster | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda | 220.063 | 40.8973 | 1.2543 | 0.0371 | 7 | 54 |
| 31 | 75 | Takuma Sato | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda | 219.998 | 40.9095 | 1.2665 | 0.0122 | 21 | 29 |
| 32 | 18 | Rinus Veekay | Dale Coyne Racing | Honda | 219 | 41.0959 | 1.4529 | 0.1864 | 31 | 54 |
| 33 | 83 | Robert Shwartzman | Prema Racing | Chevy | 217.836 | 41.3155 | 1.6725 | 0.2196 | 6 | 6 |
| 34 | 90 | Callum Ilott | Prema Racing | Chevy | 217.189 | 41.4385 | 1.7955 | 0.123 | 11 | 16 |
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