Newgarden pips Daly on Day 1 of Indy 500 test

Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden has set the fastest lap of Day 1 of the Indianapolis 500 Open Test.

The two-time IndyCar champion set an average 227.686mph (366.435km/h) early in the final hour of a windy Thursday of testing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Newgarden and the #2 Chevrolet would end up just quicker than the #20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet of Conor Daly, who clocked 227.466mph (366.071km/h) in the final three minutes of proceedings.

Next on the timesheet were three Honda-powered drivers, namely Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon in third and his team-mate Takuma Sato in fifth, split by Andretti Autosport’s Kyle Kirkwood.

Stefan Wilson was first of the 500-only entries in sixth in the #24 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet, from Colton Herta (#26 Andretti w/ Curb-Agajanian Honda), Alex Palou (#10 Ganassi Honda), Pato O’Ward (#5 McLaren Chevrolet), and Scott McLaughlin (#3 Penske Chevrolet).

Marco Andretti (#98 Andretti Herta w/ Curb-Agajanian Honda) was 11th on his return to IndyCar and Will Power (#12 Penske Chevrolet) 13th.

Last year’s Indianapolis 500 winner, Marcus Ericsson, was classified 18th in the #8 Ganassi Honda with a best lap speed of 224.537mph (361.357km/h) and the highest lap count for the afternoon session, 120.

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The day was split up into three sessions, being a two-hour hit-out for Veterans, another two hours for Rookie Orientation Programmes/Refreshers, and then four-and-a-half hours for all drivers.

Ericsson set the pace in that first session with a 224.330mph (361.024km/h) lap in the first half-hour, before seven of the eight drivers in the ROP/Refresher session completed their programme by the time a Caution was called with 32 minutes to go due to light rain.

Augustin Canapino (#78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet) was the exception, coming up one lap short, but would be allowed to notch that up during the all-in session which followed.

That session began just over a quarter of an hour late and it was Romain Grosjean (#28 Honda) and team-mate Marco Andretti who headed out initially, the former ending his run fastest on a 218.716mph (351.989mph).

Daly, rookie Benjamin Pedersen (#55 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet), and two-time Indy 500 winner Sato then raised the bar.

The latter set a 221.213mph (356.008km/h) and a 222.352mph (357.841km/h) on consecutive laps before fellow race winner and Ganassi driver Dixon (#9 Honda) clocked a 223.493mph (359.677km/h).

Next to go quickest was the man who tasted victory at Long Beach four days prior, Kirkwood (#27 Honda), on a 223.907mph (360.343km/h) just before the first hour of the session was up, after which McLaughlin went third on a 223.094mph (359.035km/h).

There had already been a lot of traffic running but when a big train formed in the 81st minute, speeds shot up dramatically.

Sato set a 226.265mph (364.138km/h) and McLaughlin rose to second on a 225.493mph (362.896km/h), usurping the 225.333mph (362.638km/h) which Herta had just achieved.

Herta reclaimed second place 15 minutes later with a 225.934mph (363.606km/h) during a fairly quiet period.

With just over two hours elapsed, the circuit got busy again and Dixon achieved a tow-assisted 226.788mph (364.980km/h) and Newgarden went to second on a 226.707mph (364.850km/h) in a new-look Car #2.

A Caution was called with a little under two hours remaining for debris and, when pit lane reopened 10 minutes later, drivers found that the wind had picked up even more, with running sparse.

The speedway got busy again as the final hour kicked off, when Newgarden moved the benchmark to a 227.686mph (366.435km/h).

There was a pit lane run-in with about half an hour remaining, when Callum Ilott (#77 JHR Chevrolet) exited his box and made contact with the #21 ECR Chevrolet of Rinus VeeKay, who in turn hit the pit wall.

Ilott went back out but soon retreated to the pits for the duration, while Daly climbed to second place with a 227.466mph (366.071km/h) on his 114th lap.

Testing resumes on Friday at 10:00 local time/Saturday at 00:00 AEST.

Results: Day 1

Note: Third session of day designated officially as ‘Test Session 2’, after Test Session 1 and ROP Test Session 1