Newgarden tops Day 2 of IndyCar testing at IMS

Penske Chevy #2 driver Josef Newgarden (shown above) showed that Team Penske will be the team to beat in this year’s Indy 500. In the heat of the day Newgarden turned a lap of 226.819mph to beat the 2020 Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato who put up his fast lap in Happy Hour at 226.396mph in his #30 Rahal Honda.

Juan Montoya was third in the #86 Arrow McLaren Chevy at 226.123mph and the only other driver over 226mph but all three speeds were set with a tow.

Juan Montoya 3rd quick. IMS Photo/James J. Black

Graham Rahal ended up the fastest driver of the day without a tow at 221.949mph. If that is any indication, the Rahal team might in for their 2nd straight Indy 500 win – having finished 1st and 3rd in the 500 last August.

2020 Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato was 2nd quick. IMS Photo/James J. Black

Struggling, or sandbagging, we don’t know which, appears to be the Andretti Autosport Honda Team, which could only manage a 12th best with their 5 cars – that being by Ryan Hunter-Reay in the #28 DHL Andretti Honda at 224.949mph.

NASCAR driver, rookie Cody Ware, was slowest in the #52 Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing Honda, 1.5s per lap off the pace. It was only his 4th day in an IndyCar and it’s clear he is being careful as Indy can be a daunting place.

Newgarden has won the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship twice in the last four years, so he freely admits winning the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge is the biggest box left to check in his racing career.

If the speed chart from the second day of the Indy 500 Open Test on Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is any indication, that dream could become reality this May.

Newgarden, from Nashville, Tennessee, was the fastest driver today and overall from two days of testing, turning a top lap of 226.819 mph in the No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet under mostly sunny skies on the 2.5-mile oval. That easily eclipsed the top speed from the rain-hampered first day Thursday, 224.427 by Sebastien Bourdais in the No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet.

“It was a pretty good day,” Newgarden said. “I was happy enough with the car. I think we still need some work, for sure, but to just get an initial read on where we’re at is good. Obviously, there are a lot of new parts and differences to the last couple of years, so we’re just trying to assess what we need to really work on these last couple of weeks before we get back here in May. But I’m pretty happy.”

Indy 500 winners and INDYCAR SERIES champions dominated the top of the speed chart. Two-time and reigning Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato was second at 226.369 in the No. 30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, with two-time Indy winner and 1999 CART champion Juan Pablo Montoya third at 226.123 in the No. 86 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet.

Six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion and 2008 Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon was fourth at 225.906, while Graham Rahal rounded out the top five at 225.644 in the No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda.

RLL was the only team to power two drivers into the top five today, and Rahal was the fastest driver without the benefit of an aerodynamic tow in traffic, at 221.949. Sato won the 104th Indianapolis 500 last Aug. 23, with teammate Rahal third.

The speed limit increased today in more favorable conditions and larger, more aerodynamic packs. The top 12 drivers laid down laps faster than Bourdais’ chart-topper Thursday.

Passing raindrops and track inspections only briefly interrupted the nine-hour session. Rookie Scott McLaughlin turned 195 laps in his No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet, more than any driver and just five laps shy of the full 500-mile race distance.

Up next for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is the 2021 season opener, the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama presented by AmFirst on Sunday, April 18 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama. NBC and the INDYCAR Radio Network will provide live coverage starting at 3 p.m. (ET).

Select Quotes

JOSEF NEWGARDEN . NO.2 SHELL FUEL REWARDS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET — POST TWO-DAY INDYCAR OPEN TEST AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY: “It’s just nice to be back…its nice to have a couple of days to work even though the first day was as completed as we would have liked. It’s just  nice to be back here with four cars and having Scott join the program, we are going to be able to make a lot of headway quick with the amount of resources we have. I think the Shell Fuel Rwards Chevy is beautiful and I’m loving driving it so far. We need to learn as much as we can and then carry that momentum into May when the real work begins.”

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 SHELL PENNZOIL TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – POST TWO-DAY INDYCAR OPEN TEST AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY: “Once we get laps, I think we…when you  roll up to the gate for the first time it’s amazing.  But not now because of the rain. Rolled out for the first time we had a good lap but massive help with the tow. Then we focused on doing some stuff with what I learned from that tow. We’ve been good, the tires have been really strong and we’ve been consistent. Rick Mears has been great. Just been there for me to lean on. He simplifies the  more technical stuff for me Tells me great stories on preparing for it. Yeah, its been great so far.”

Scott McLaughlin. IMS Photo/James J. Black

SIMON PAGENAUD, NO.22 MENARDS TEM PENSKE CHEVROLET – POST TWO-DAY INDYCAR OPEN TEST AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY: “Yeah great great to studious day for us. We  just went through different aero configuration on the racecar but overall it’s always such a it’s good to be back could be back in the Speedway. Obviously it is  place a phenomenal place for racing and for our team. It is our number one priority to win here so Chevy power seem strong and I was very very excited you to finish the day in the Menards No; 22 today so we could shape. So far program is a is on time for what we wanted to do.”

Simon Pagenaud. IMS Photo/James J. Black

MAX CHILTON, NO.59 CARLIN CHEVROLET – POST TW0-DAY INDYCAR OPEN TEST AT INDIANAPOLIS: “A really positive day at IMS. The Carlin team has worked harder than ever this past winter. I can definitely see the change in the car, especially if you look at the no-tows, so that’s a really good sign of speed. I could sense we’d be quick right away. We still have to work on running in traffic, but we’ve got plenty of time in May to work on that. My new engineer Luke [Mason] and I are working together really well, and I think the whole Carlin team is coming together. So overall, a positive day at the Speedway.”

Max Chilton. IMS Photo

 JUAN PABLO MONTOYA – NO. 86 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET –  – POST TWO-DAY INDYCAR OPEN TEST AT INDIANAPOLIS: : “Today was a good day and we learned a lot. It was great to be back in the car with Arrow McLaren SP and very useful for me to start getting back into traffic before the actual Month of May. I still have a lot to do personally to get better, but the test was a great opportunity to bond with the engineers and team. We have good speed in the car but still a lot to learn.”

PATO O’WARD – NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET –  – POST TWO-DAY INDYCAR OPEN TEST AT INDIANAPOLIS: : “I think we had a solid test. We tested a lot of different things that should help us when we come back for the 105th Running of the Indianapolis 500. The No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet feels good and I think we’ve made improvements over where we were last year in the race. It was good to get :500 weekend is normally like. I think we should have a good starting point to be competitive this May.”

Pato O’Ward. IMS Photo/James J. Black

FELIX ROSENQVIST – NO. 7 VUSE ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET –  – POST TWO-DAY INDYCAR OPEN TEST AT INDIANAPOLIS: : “I thought today was good, we got a lot of laps done and had a pretty good car for most of the day. We fell off a little bit at the end, running in traffic with a little too much understeer, but we got to try a lot of good things with the team. These test days really let the team get into gear a little bit better. We are going to be back here pretty soon and it was nice to get on track in Indianapolis again.”

Day 2 Test Speeds

Pos No Name Time Diff Gap FL Laps Speed Engine Team
1 2 Josef Newgarden 39.6792 0.000 0.000 60 121 226.819 Chevy Team Penske
2 30 Takuma Sato 39.7534 0.0742 0.0742 47 60 226.396 Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
3 86 Juan Pablo Montoya 39.8013 0.1221 0.0479 43 68 226.123 Chevy Arrow McLaren SP
4 9 Scott Dixon 39.8395 0.1603 0.0382 65 125 225.906 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
5 15 Graham Rahal 39.8859 0.2067 0.0464 40 157 225.644 Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
6 47 Conor Daly 39.8868 0.2076 0.0009 119 137 225.639 Chevy Ed Carpenter Racing
7 12 Will Power 39.9112 0.2320 0.0244 51 162 225.501 Chevy Team Penske
8 60 Jack Harvey 39.9527 0.2735 0.0415 139 140 225.266 Honda Meyer Shank Racing
9 5 Pato O’Ward 39.9790 0.2998 0.0263 108 156 225.118 Chevy Arrow McLaren SP
10 06 Helio Castroneves 39.9868 0.3076 0.0078 105 128 225.074 Honda Meyer Shank Racing
11 22 Simon Pagenaud 39.9999 0.3207 0.0131 104 184 225.001 Chevy Team Penske
12 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay 40.0091 0.3299 0.0092 119 134 224.949 Honda Andretti Autosport
13 26 Colton Herta 40.1422 0.4630 0.1331 42 164 224.203 Honda Andretti Autosport
14 20 Ed Carpenter 40.1524 0.4732 0.0102 144 146 224.146 Chevy Ed Carpenter Racing
15 10 Alex Palou 40.1545 0.4753 0.0021 20 112 224.134 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
16 7 Felix Rosenqvist 40.1835 0.5043 0.0290 112 126 223.973 Chevy Arrow McLaren SP
17 18 Ed Jones 40.1956 0.5164 0.0121 15 104 223.905 Honda Dale Coyne Racing
18 3 Scott McLaughlin 40.2131 0.5339 0.0175 151 195 223.808 Chevy Team Penske
19 27 Alexander Rossi 40.2440 0.5648 0.0309 117 136 223.636 Honda Andretti Autosport
20 45 Santino Ferrucci 40.2650 0.5858 0.0210 85 137 223.519 Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
21 16 Simona De Silvestro 40.2760 0.5968 0.0110 50 92 223.458 Chevy Paretta Autosport
22 29 James Hinchcliffe 40.2760 0.5968 0.0000 87 127 223.458 Honda Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport
23 48 Tony Kanaan 40.3404 0.6612 0.0644 38 98 223.101 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
24 24 Sage Karam 40.3415 0.6623 0.0011 71 81 223.095 Chevy Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
25 98 Marco Andretti 40.3923 0.7131 0.0508 113 138 222.815 Honda Andretti Herta-Haupert w/Marco & Curb-Agajanian
26 14 Sebastien Bourdais 40.4263 0.7471 0.0340 119 125 222.627 Chevy AJ Foyt Enterprises
27 59 Max Chilton 40.4935 0.8143 0.0672 3 114 222.258 Chevy Carlin
28 8 Marcus Ericsson 40.5159 0.8367 0.0224 147 188 222.135 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
29 51 Pietro Fittipaldi 40.5509 0.8717 0.0350 135 144 221.943 Honda Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing
30 4 Dalton Kellett 40.8727 1.1935 0.3218 63 97 220.196 Chevy AJ Foyt Enterprises
31 52 Cody Ware 41.2017 1.5225 0.3290 25 58 218.438 Honda Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing

 

 

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