Alex Palou has topped Practice 8 at the Indianapolis 500 as drivers and teams turned their attention to race runs.
Following two qualifying segments this morning in which Charlie Kimball and RC Enerson were eliminated from the event, and then Scott Dixon took pole position, the finalised 33-car field was granted a two-hour practice window.
Chip Ganassi Racing looked strong yet again, its four Honda-powered cars all featuring in the top five on the timesheets.
After Palou’s 39.8850s came team-mate Marcus Ericsson, with a lap time just three thousandths of a second slower.
Third-placed Conor Daly (Ed Carpenter Racing) broke up the CGR-fest, with Tony Kanaan and Dixon rounding out the top five.
Among the other key drivers for Australasian fans were Will Power in 11th and Scott McLaughlin in 15th, while Simona De Silvestro was 33rd and last.
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McLaughlin completed the most laps of all, with 95 to his name.
Team Penske stable-mate Simon Pagenaud was at the other end of the list, managing just 21 laps due to a mechanical failure.
Cars won’t return to the track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway until final practice from 01:00 on Saturday (AEST), two days before the main event.
Practice 8 results: Indianapolis 500
| RANK | DRIVER | CAR NO. | BEST TIME | IN LAP | BEST SPEED | TOTAL LAPS | DIFF. |
| 1 | Alex Palou | 10 | 00:39.9 | 29 | 225.649 | 52 | –.—- |
| 2 | Marcus Ericsson | 8 | 00:39.9 | 4 | 225.632 | 54 | 0.003 |
| 3 | Conor Daly | 47 | 00:39.9 | 19 | 225.453 | 70 | 0.0347 |
| 4 | Tony Kanaan | 48 | 00:39.9 | 17 | 225.431 | 30 | 0.0386 |
| 5 | Scott Dixon | 9 | 00:40.0 | 1 | 224.802 | 30 | 0.1502 |
| 6 | Takuma Sato | 30 | 00:40.1 | 34 | 224.43 | 72 | 0.2166 |
| 7 | Graham Rahal | 15 | 00:40.1 | 53 | 224.376 | 87 | 0.2262 |
| 8 | Stefan Wilson | 25 | 00:40.1 | 3 | 224.209 | 76 | 0.2562 |
| 9 | Felix Rosenqvist | 7 | 00:40.2 | 7 | 224.085 | 76 | 0.2784 |
| 10 | Marco Andretti | 98 | 00:40.2 | 16 | 223.843 | 87 | 0.3217 |
| 11 | Will Power | 12 | 00:40.3 | 41 | 223.565 | 70 | 0.3718 |
| 12 | JR Hildebrand | 1 | 00:40.3 | 23 | 223.531 | 51 | 0.3779 |
| 13 | Alexander Rossi | 27 | 00:40.3 | 64 | 223.455 | 90 | 0.3916 |
| 14 | Sebastien Bourdais | 14 | 00:40.3 | 69 | 223.446 | 81 | 0.3932 |
| 15 | Scott McLaughlin | 3 | 00:40.3 | 68 | 223.212 | 95 | 0.4355 |
| 16 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 86 | 00:40.3 | 4 | 223.099 | 60 | 0.4558 |
| 17 | Santino Ferrucci | 45 | 00:40.3 | 40 | 223.055 | 40 | 0.4638 |
| 18 | Sage Karam | 24 | 00:40.4 | 27 | 222.953 | 69 | 0.4823 |
| 19 | James Hinchcliffe | 29 | 00:40.4 | 23 | 222.754 | 90 | 0.5184 |
| 20 | Ed Jones | 18 | 00:40.4 | 61 | 222.67 | 79 | 0.5336 |
| 21 | Dalton Kellett | 4 | 00:40.4 | 27 | 222.569 | 37 | 0.5519 |
| 22 | Jack Harvey | 60 | 00:40.5 | 80 | 222.487 | 81 | 0.5668 |
| 23 | Rinus VeeKay | 21 | 00:40.5 | 15 | 222.444 | 32 | 0.5747 |
| 24 | Pato O’Ward | 5 | 00:40.5 | 43 | 222.336 | 51 | 0.5942 |
| 25 | Ed Carpenter | 20 | 00:40.5 | 7 | 222.277 | 58 | 0.6051 |
| 26 | Josef Newgarden | 2 | 00:40.5 | 70 | 222.138 | 84 | 0.6303 |
| 27 | Max Chilton | 59 | 00:40.5 | 48 | 221.97 | 50 | 0.661 |
| 28 | Simon Pagenaud | 22 | 00:40.6 | 21 | 221.683 | 21 | 0.7136 |
| 29 | Colton Herta | 26 | 00:40.6 | 39 | 221.41 | 71 | 0.7635 |
| 30 | Helio Castroneves | 6 | 00:40.7 | 51 | 221.348 | 68 | 0.775 |
| 31 | Pietro Fittipaldi | 51 | 00:40.7 | 71 | 221.25 | 82 | 0.793 |
| 32 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | 28 | 00:40.7 | 28 | 221.201 | 53 | 0.8019 |
| 33 | Simona De Silvestro | 16 | 00:40.8 | 33 | 220.604 | 46 | 0.912 |
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