Indy 500 | Practice 2 | Palou tops fastest speed chart as Ganassi and Penske continue ominous form

IndyCar Practice 2 at the Indy 500 action got underway shortly after 1pm, view the full report and results here.
Photo Credit: Penske Entertainment | Joe Skibinski
Spread the love

After a delay of over an hour for IndyCar Practice 2 as rain hit Indianapolis on Wednesday morning, Indy 500 action got underway shortly after 1pm, view the full report and results below.

Power starts strong

It did not take too long for the drivers to hit good speeds as the sun appeared over IMS. Australian Will Power led the way in the opening hour, clocking a 225.584mph lap. Dixon, Malukas, Palou and Herta followed as they posted laps in the 224mph bracket. McLaughlin, Kirkwood, Hunter-Reay, Ericsson and Siegel rounded out the top 10. Josef Newgarden was down in 31st as he ran alone on his laps, although plenty of race running with slipstreams were happening elsewhere.

In the second hour of running Josef Newgarden appeared towards the top of the charts as he did a 225.545mph to slot in right behind Will Power. Dixon, Malukas, Palou, Armstrong, Harvey, Rasmussen, Herta and Castroneves completed the top 10 after two hours of running.

PREMA were having a much better day as Robert Shwartzman was 23rd, and Callum Ilott 28th as they did a good amount of running.

Defending series champion Alex Palou moved himself up one to P4 as he jumped David Malukas.

More valuable running lost because of the weather

As the clock closed in on two hours to go, a caution was thrown as inclement weather returned to IMS.

On the non-tow best laps chart, it was an Andretti 1-2-3. Kyle Kirkwood clocked a 222.760mph lap, followed by Colton Herta and Marco Andretti with a 220.995mph and 220.188mph respectively. The PREMA’s of Robert Shwartzman (220.112mph) and Callum Ilott (219.775mph) also impressed on this one as they were P4 and P5.

The action resumed with an hour and fifteen minutes remaining as the weather played ball for teams and drivers.

With just under an hour to go, Alex Palou picked up a big tow and clocked a 227.546mph to go P1 as he got in behind Pato O’Ward and Will Power. Conor Daly jumped into 5th.

A caution was thrown again with under 45 minutes left for weather. Nonetheless action quickly resumed 16 minutes later.

Four-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves leaped up into the top 10 as drivers practiced race and traffic running inside the last 30 minutes.

While Kirkwood stayed fastest in the non-tow charts, Rasmussen and Rossi slotted into P2 and P3 in the closing stages. The Dane was on a qualifying simulation according to FOX.

Full fastest speed results from IndyCar Practice 2 at the Indy 500

  1. Palou
  2. Power
  3. Newgarden
  4. Dixon
  5. Daly
  6. Malukas
  7. Armstrong
  8. Castroneves
  9. Harvey
  10. Rasmussen
  11. Foster
  12. Herta
  13. Larson
  14. Hunter-Reay
  15. Sato
  16. McLaughlin
  17. Rahal
  18. Kirkwood
  19. DeFrancesco
  20. O’Ward
  21. Ericsson
  22. Rossi
  23. Rosenqvist
  24. Andretti
  25. Siegel
  26. Abel
  27. Simpson
  28. Shwartzman
  29. VeeKay
  30. Lundgaard
  31. Ilott
  32. Robb
  33. Ferrucci
  34. Carpenter