Palou sets pace in Practice 8

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.

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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.

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