Power leads Penske one-two on first day of Indy 500 practice
Will Power pic: Team Penske Twitter
Will Power edged fellow Team Penske driver Simon Pagenaud to the fastest lap on the first day of practice for the 2019 Indianapolis 500.
Power’s best of 39.1738s (229.745mph, 369.739km/h) in the #12 Chevrolet came with the assistance of a tow as he and the Frenchman worked together on Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Pagenaud ended up only 0.042mph (0.068km/h) slower in the #22 Chevrolet, while Ed Carpenter was third fastest by virtue of the 39.3610s (228.653mph, 367.981km/h) which he set in the Oval Veterans session that kicked off the day’s proceedings.
Helio Castroneves (#3 Chevrolet) similarly ended up fourth in the Indianapolis-only Team Penske entry, as did Colton Herta (Harding Steinbrenner Racing) in the first of the Honda-powered cars.
Herta was also responsible for the only yellow flag not necessitated by debris when he looped Car #88 while exiting the pits late in the afternoon.
“I think that was him pushing to leave pit lane, to essentially try and get into traffic as quickly as he could.”
Follow along on @NBCSportsGold: https://t.co/lSFFyezUq4#ThisIsMay // #Indy500 pic.twitter.com/oMjPsulABF
— NTT IndyCar Series (@IndyCar) May 14, 2019
Ed Jones was 10th fastest but best in terms of non-towed laps at an average speed of 224.542mph (361.365km/h) in the #63 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet.
Scott Dixon (#9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) was 13th but did record the highest figure through the speed trap at 236.128mph (380.011km/h).
Fernando Alonso (#66 McLaren Racing Chevrolet) was 32nd having completed only one lap in the afternoon session, and James Davison (#33 Dale Coyne Racing w/ Byrd-Hollinger-Belardi Honda) 36th.
Both Alonso and Davison came after three of the four Schmidt Peterson Hondas which James Hinchcliffe drove during the day.
Patricio O’Ward will start Day 2 early in order to complete his rookie orientation after encountering a gearbox problem in the #31 Carlin Chevrolet.
Results: Practice: Day 1
| Pos | Num | Driver | C/E/T | Time | Avg speed | Laps | |
| mph | km/h | ||||||
| 1 | 12 | Will Power | D/C/F | 0:39.1738 | 229.745 | 369.739 | 68 |
| 2 | 22 | Simon Pagenaud | D/C/F | 0:39.1810 | 229.703 | 369.671 | 81 |
| 3 | 20 | Ed Carpenter | D/C/F | 0:39.3610 | 228.653 | 367.981 | 105 |
| 4 | 3 | Helio Castroneves | D/C/F | 0:39.3974 | 228.441 | 367.640 | 67 |
| 5 | 88 | Colton Herta (R) | D/H/F | 0:39.4246 | 228.284 | 367.387 | 74 |
| 6 | 18 | Sebastien Bourdais | D/H/F | 0:39.4318 | 228.242 | 367.320 | 110 |
| 7 | 26 | Zach Veach | D/H/F | 0:39.4506 | 228.133 | 367.144 | 109 |
| 8 | 27 | Alexander Rossi | D/H/F | 0:39.4631 | 228.061 | 367.029 | 92 |
| 9 | 98 | Marco Andretti | D/H/F | 0:39.4736 | 228.000 | 366.930 | 81 |
| 10 | 63 | Ed Jones | D/C/F | 0:39.4795 | 227.966 | 366.876 | 105 |
| 11 | 21 | Spencer Pigot | D/C/F | 0:39.5021 | 227.836 | 366.666 | 128 |
| 12 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | D/H/F | 0:39.5358 | 227.642 | 366.354 | 80 |
| 13 | 9 | Scott Dixon | D/H/F | 0:39.5730 | 227.428 | 366.010 | 97 |
| 14 | 30 | Takuma Sato | D/H/F | 0:39.6042 | 227.249 | 365.722 | 90 |
| 15 | 48 | JR Hildebrand | D/C/F | 0:39.6125 | 227.201 | 365.645 | 113 |
| 16 | 19 | Santino Ferrucci (R) | D/H/F | 0:39.6330 | 227.083 | 365.455 | 95 |
| 17 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | D/C/F | 0:39.6474 | 227.001 | 365.323 | 60 |
| 18 | 10 | Felix Rosenqvist (R) | D/H/F | 0:39.6774 | 226.829 | 365.046 | 81 |
| 19 | 25 | Conor Daly | D/H/F | 0:39.6963 | 226.721 | 364.872 | 99 |
| 20 | 15 | Graham Rahal | D/H/F | 0:39.7354 | 226.498 | 364.513 | 90 |
| 21 | 32 | Kyle Kaiser (R) | D/C/F | 0:39.7509 | 226.410 | 364.372 | 10 |
| 22 | 23 | Charlie Kimball | D/C/F | 0:39.8507 | 225.843 | 363.459 | 69 |
| 23 | 7 | James Hinchcliffe | D/H/F | 0:39.9117 | 225.498 | 362.904 | 5 |
| 24 | 14 | Tony Kanaan | D/C/F | 0:39.9161 | 225.473 | 362.864 | 66 |
| 25 | 5 | James Hinchcliffe | D/H/F | 0:39.9582 | 225.235 | 362.481 | 99 |
| 26 | 60 | Jack Harvey | D/H/F | 0:39.9641 | 225.202 | 362.427 | 85 |
| 27 | 59 | Max Chilton | D/C/F | 0:40.0274 | 224.846 | 361.855 | 76 |
| 28 | 77 | James Hinchcliffe | D/H/F | 0:40.0369 | 224.793 | 361.769 | 6 |
| 29 | 7 | Marcus Ericsson (R) | D/H/F | 0:40.0532 | 224.701 | 361.621 | 83 |
| 30 | 24 | Sage Karam | D/C/F | 0:40.0686 | 224.615 | 361.483 | 32 |
| 31 | 4 | Matheus Leist | D/C/F | 0:40.1150 | 224.355 | 361.064 | 85 |
| 32 | 66 | Fernando Alonso | D/C/F | 0:40.1496 | 224.162 | 360.754 | 50 |
| 33 | 42 | Jordan King (R) | D/H/F | 0:40.1834 | 223.973 | 360.450 | 42 |
| 34 | 39 | Pippa Mann | D/C/F | 0:40.1948 | 223.910 | 360.348 | 25 |
| 35 | 31 | Max Chilton | D/C/F | 0:40.2646 | 223.521 | 359.722 | 13 |
| 36 | 33 | James Davison | D/H/F | 0:40.2660 | 223.514 | 359.711 | 30 |
| 37 | 77 | Oriol Servia | D/H/F | 0:40.3063 | 223.290 | 359.350 | 60 |
| 38 | 81 | Ben Hanley (R) | D/C/F | 0:40.6235 | 221.547 | 356.545 | 14 |
| 39 | 60 | James Hinchcliffe | D/H/F | 0:40.8157 | 220.503 | 354.865 | 5 |
(C)hassis: D=Dallara | (E)ngine: C=Chevy, H=Honda | (T)yre: F=Firestone
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