As time ticks away, drivers are looking to knock off every second possible for the Indianapolis 500. On Friday (May 17), a driver reached 230+ mph for the first time all week during the race’s fourth practice session, with one driver reaching 231 mph.
Conor Daly turned the fastest lap during the session and fastest lap so far among all four practices ran. Daly ran a speed of 231.704 mph to put his No. 25 on top of the speed charts. His Andretti-Autosport teammate Marco Andretti finished the session in second with a lap that was 230.853 mph.
2017 Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato was third (230.755 mph), while Spencer Pigot (230.471 mph) and Ryan Hunter-Reay (230.466 mph) rounded out the top five.
Ed Carpenter just barely missed cracking the top five by .108 mph, finishing the session sixth. Simon Pagenaud was seventh (230.326 mph), as Charlie Kimball (230.290 mph), Josef Newgarden (230.281 mph), and Ed Jones (230.106 mph) rounded out the top 10.
Results from Fourth Practice at Indianapolis
The practice session was highlighted by an accident for the third straight day. Kyle Kaiser hit the outside wall off Turn 3, sending his car airborne. The crash was almost a carbon copy of yesterday’s accident involving Patricio O’Ward. It came within inches of landing on the driver, but the side-pod of the car took the impact instead.
Kaiser would be checked and cleared from the infield care center. Per RACER, Juncos IMSA DPi, the Indy Pro 2000 and the Indy Lights teams all dropped what they were doing to jump on deck and attempt to help get the car prepared to turn a lap in qualifying in effort to make the Indianapolis 500.
Kaiser was the only driver of the 36 to not turn a lap during Friday’s practice. He started a lap but was unable to complete it due to the accident. JR Hildebrand turned five laps in Sage Karam’s No. 24 but was just five mph slower than the quick speed turned by Daly. Ben Hanley turned the most laps during the sessions with 81.
Both Fernando Alonso, O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist, who all had to pull out backup cars, turned laps during the session. Alonso turned 77 laps with his 77th lap being his best, putting him 24th, Rosenqvist turned 64 laps with his 60th being his best putting him 30th, and O’Ward turned 38 laps with his 36th being his best putting him 34th.
The fifth practice kicks off at 8 a.m. ET and runs through 9:30 a.m ET on Saturday (May 18). Qualifying kicks off at 11 a.m. ET. on NBC Sports Gold and will transfer over to NBCSN at 5 p.m. ET.
About the author
His favorite tracks on the circuit include Barber Motorsports Park, Iowa Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville, and Bristol Motor Speedway.
During the season, Christian also spends time as a photographer with multiple other outlets shooting Monster Energy AMA Supercross, Minor League & Major League Baseball, and NCAA Football.
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