IndyCar News: Andretti cars 1-2 top no-tow speeds at Indy Thurs.

On a day when two drivers ran out of talent and plastered the Indianapolis Motor Speedway wall, Colton Herta turned the fastest lap without a two in his #26 Andretti Honda at 224.182 mph.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Herta’s lap without a tow was good enough for 4th overall.

2nd quick without a tow was Herta’s teammate Kyle Kirkwood at 223.387mph on a full day of Practice for the Indy 500.

With a tow, the two quickest were Pato O’Ward (228.861 mph) and Scott McLaughlin – see 2nd table below.

“We got a really fat tow lap on the board, which was unexpected,” O’Ward said. “I’m happy with my car. We did race runs. We did qualifying runs. Obviously, it doesn’t necessarily translate perfectly to when the boosts come up just because the speed is so different. But tomorrow if it does rain out, at least we got a bit of a feeling of what the car is tending to want to do on a bit more trim level.”

Reigning Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden rounded out the top five overall at 226.684 in the No. 2 Shell Powering Progress Team Penske Chevrolet.

Marcus Ericsson in the #28 Andretti Honda plastered the Turn 4 wall and then spun into the end of the pitlane wall and severely damaged his car. The team confirmed it will move to a backup car

Earlier Linus Lundqvist hit the Turn 2 wall in his Ganassi Honda.

Both drivers were checked and released from the infield care center.

Most of the first two days of scheduled practice was washed out by rain, and Friday’s forecast is questionable, so this session is valuable.

The eight-hour session today was halted for 68 minutes late in the afternoon and ended 13 minutes early due to rain, the third straight day precipitation has hampered practice.

Tomorrow is Fast Friday, when speeds will jump significantly because race officials allow more horsepower in preparation for this weekend’s qualifying. Track action starts at noon ET.

Thursday Indy 500 Practice speeds (Without-Tow)

Rank	Car	Driver Name	Engine	Non-Tow Time	Non-Tow Speed	Diff	Gap
1	26	Herta, Colton	Honda	40.1460s	224.182	–.—-	–.—-
2	27	Kirkwood, Kyle	Honda	40.2889s	223.387	0.1429	0.1429
3	06	Castroneves, Helio	Honda	40.3856s	222.852	0.2396	0.0967
4	15	Rahal, Graham	Honda	40.4187s	222.669	0.2727	0.0331
5	21	VeeKay, Rinus	Chevy	40.4264s	222.627	0.2804	0.0077
6	3	McLaughlin, Scott	Chevy	40.4485s	222.505	0.3025	0.0221
7	98	Andretti, Marco	Honda	40.4646s	222.417	0.3186	0.0161
8	28	Ericsson, Marcus	Honda	40.4662s	222.408	0.3202	0.0016
9	66	Blomqvist, Tom (R)	Honda	40.4732s	222.369	0.3272	0.0070
10	12	Power, Will	Chevy	40.4798s	222.333	0.3338	0.0066
11	60	Rosenqvist, Felix	Honda	40.5002s	222.221	0.3542	0.0204
12	75	Sato, Takuma	Honda	40.5127s	222.153	0.3667	0.0125
13	5	O’Ward, Pato	Chevy	40.5215s	222.104	0.3755	0.0088
14	33	Rasmussen, Christian (R)	Chevy	40.5854s	221.755	0.4394	0.0639
15	45	Lundgaard, Christian	Honda	40.6224s	221.553	0.4764	0.0370
16	30	Fittipaldi, Pietro	Honda	40.6498s	221.403	0.5038	0.0274
17	20	Carpenter, Ed	Chevy	40.6744s	221.269	0.5284	0.0246
18	78	Canapino, Agustin	Chevy	40.7099s	221.076	0.5639	0.0355
19	6	Ilott, Callum	Chevy	40.7501s	220.858	0.6041	0.0402
20	77	Grosjean, Romain	Chevy	40.7732s	220.733	0.6272	0.0231
21	2	Newgarden, Josef	Chevy	40.8271s	220.442	0.6811	0.0539
22	7	Rossi, Alexander	Chevy	40.9636s	219.707	0.8176	0.1365
23	41	Robb, Sting Ray	Chevy	40.9934s	219.548	0.8474	0.0298
24	17	Larson, Kyle (R)	Chevy	40.9955s	219.536	0.8495	0.0021
25	24	Daly, Conor	Chevy	41.0954s	219.003	0.9494	0.0999
26	23	Hunter-Reay, Ryan	Chevy	41.1404s	218.763	0.9944	0.0450
27	51	Legge, Katherine	Honda	41.1551s	218.685	1.0091	0.0147
28	18	Siegel, Nolan (R)	Honda	41.2164s	218.360	1.0704	0.0613
29	11	Armstrong, Marcus (R)	Honda	41.2632s	218.112	1.1172	0.0468
30	14	Ferrucci, Santino	Chevy	41.2714s	218.069	1.1254	0.0082
31	4	Simpson, Kyffin (R)	Honda	41.4509s	217.124	1.3049	0.1795
		(R) Rookie

Thursday Indy 500 Practice Speeds (With Tow)

Rank	Car	Driver Name	Engine	Time	Speed	Diff	Gap
1	5	O’Ward, Pato	Chevy	39.3252s	228.861	–.—-	–.—-
2	3	McLaughlin, Scott	Chevy	39.5925s	227.316	0.2673	0.2673
3	10	Palou, Alex	Honda	39.6624s	226.915	0.3372	0.0699
4	26	Herta, Colton	Honda	39.6776s	226.828	0.3524	0.0152
5	2	Newgarden, Josef	Chevy	39.7029s	226.684	0.3777	0.0253
6	98	Andretti, Marco	Honda	39.7257s	226.554	0.4005	0.0228
7	8	Lundqvist, Linus (R)	Honda	39.7771s	226.261	0.4519	0.0514
8	20	Carpenter, Ed	Chevy	39.8028s	226.115	0.4776	0.0257
9	12	Power, Will	Chevy	39.8804s	225.675	0.5552	0.0776
10	9	Dixon, Scott	Honda	39.8872s	225.636	0.5620	0.0068
11	24	Daly, Conor	Chevy	39.8914s	225.613	0.5662	0.0042
12	6	Ilott, Callum	Chevy	39.9773s	225.128	0.6521	0.0859
13	06	Castroneves, Helio	Honda	39.9900s	225.056	0.6648	0.0127
14	23	Hunter-Reay, Ryan	Chevy	40.0104s	224.942	0.6852	0.0204
15	11	Armstrong, Marcus (R)	Honda	40.0396s	224.777	0.7144	0.0292
16	77	Grosjean, Romain	Chevy	40.0668s	224.625	0.7416	0.0272
17	7	Rossi, Alexander	Chevy	40.0676s	224.620	0.7424	0.0008
18	28	Ericsson, Marcus	Honda	40.0727s	224.592	0.7475	0.0051
19	60	Rosenqvist, Felix	Honda	40.1406s	224.212	0.8154	0.0679
20	27	Kirkwood, Kyle	Honda	40.1462s	224.181	0.8210	0.0056
21	21	VeeKay, Rinus	Chevy	40.1617s	224.094	0.8365	0.0155
22	14	Ferrucci, Santino	Chevy	40.2778s	223.448	0.9526	0.1161
23	75	Sato, Takuma	Honda	40.2802s	223.435	0.9550	0.0024
24	51	Legge, Katherine	Honda	40.2860s	223.403	0.9608	0.0058
25	17	Larson, Kyle (R)	Chevy	40.3941s	222.805	1.0689	0.1081
26	78	Canapino, Agustin	Chevy	40.3979s	222.784	1.0727	0.0038
27	15	Rahal, Graham	Honda	40.4187s	222.669	1.0935	0.0208
28	4	Simpson, Kyffin (R)	Honda	40.4564s	222.462	1.1312	0.0377
29	66	Blomqvist, Tom (R)	Honda	40.4732s	222.369	1.1480	0.0168
30	45	Lundgaard, Christian	Honda	40.5294s	222.061	1.2042	0.0562
31	30	Fittipaldi, Pietro	Honda	40.5544s	221.924	1.2292	0.0250
32	33	Rasmussen, Christian (R)	Chevy	40.5657s	221.862	1.2405	0.0113
33	18	Siegel, Nolan (R)	Honda	40.7416s	220.904	1.4164	0.1759
34	41	Robb, Sting Ray	Chevy	40.9109s	219.990	1.5857	0.1693

(R) Rookie