After a multi-hour delay due to communications issues, Scott Dixon ended up being the fastest driver in Wednesday’s (April 23) running of the Indianapolis 500 Open Test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Dixon turned in a fastest lap of 225.182 mph in the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. The 2008 Indianapolis 500 winner was only .0101 seconds faster than Josef Newgarden who was second fastest at 225.125 mph.
Newgarden had paced the open test in each of the previous two years.
After all drivers were sent out to do their installation laps shortly after 10 a.m., race control halted any track activity to rectify what was termed as “connectivity issues” by the sanctioning body.
After those issues were corrected, INDYCAR started the veteran track running at 12:45 p.m. ET. The veteran refresher and Rookie Orientation Program session followed, starting at 2:00 p.m and ending two hours later.
All veteran refreshers and ROP program requirements were satisfied and track activity was extended from 6 p.m. until 7 p.m. owing to the lost time from the connection issues.
Behind Dixon and Newgarden, Takuma Sato in the No. 75 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda was third fastest ahead of Marcus Armstrong‘s No. 66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda and Colton Herta’s No. 26 Andretti Global Honda.
There was one moment of wall contact. Graham Rahal brushed the wall exiting turn 3 with a little over 12 minutes to go in track time and the No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda slowed on the main straight in case there was an imminent mechanical failure.
Ran out of racetrack 🫣@GrahamRahal brushes the wall exiting Turn 3 and keeps the car safe.
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) April 23, 2025
📺: INDYCAR YouTube pic.twitter.com/SlumUQUSQS
Race control called for the yellow flag, bringing all cars to pit road.
“It was just a light brush but it was a rookie move,” Rahal said. “Just too loose and then couldn’t add any steering and then just got a little high and brushed. But it’s all good. I mean, it’s a shame because it shouldn’t happen, I should’ve just brought it in before that, but I mean the car’s okay.”
Rahal’s team has had struggles in Indy 500 qualifying the last two years. The second generation racer was 14th on the speed chart which is comforting to see after dealing with the tension of the Last Row Showdown on multiple occasions.
“I think we definitely have a little more pace,” Rahal said. “We were actually just doing kind of a lower downforce run when that happened just to kind of see where we are compared to our teammates. The problem was Takuma went in a big tow on his run, so we’re trying to see between the cars where everybody’s at.
“I feel better, I do, I feel a lot better, but we’ll see what tomorrow brings with the high boost. We’ve got to get our cars good in qualifying, you know, that’s been a major Achilles Heel for us so we’ll see what tomorrow is.”
Christopher DeHarde has covered IndyCar racing and the Road to Indy for various outlets since 2014. In addition to open wheel racing, DeHarde has also covered IMSA and various short track racing events around Indiana. Originally from New Orleans, DeHarde moved to the Indianapolis area in 2017 to further pursue a career as a motorsports writer.