Marco Andretti placed the fastest lap on Fast Friday in his No. 98 Andretti Herta Autosport Honda, recording a 233,491mph using an aerodynamic tow early in the 6.5 hour session.
However, the focus on the day went without a hitch, as teams received a qualifying turbocharger boost – about 700 hp – to prepare them for this weekend’s run for pole position on the Indianapolis 500.
Ed Carpenter Racing’s Conor Daly shook Andretti by going second fastest in the Chevy no. 47 (232,377 mph), but like the leader of Friday, the round was produced with a drag, and during the cooler opening hours. As temperatures rose throughout the day to unbelievably hot conditions, the late morning speeds set by Andretti and Daly went unabated as teams actively avoided putting their drivers in a tow.
“It has been stable, as far as the pace goes,” Andretti said. “And that’s the number one hurdle when you think about qualifying. The American Concrete boys gave me a good car, and that’s all you can ask. And tomorrow the goal is to be in the top nine. So, the first thing you need is speed, and from there we just have to put the four laps together. But we have the luxury of speed, so we have to put the four laps together now. ”
On the all-important list with no tow, giving an accurate representation of individual qualifying speed without an aerodynamic call, Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay was the fastest on the day (232,124mph) in his No. 28 Honda .
“This morning we were pretty excited,” said the 2014 Indy 500 winner. “This afternoon has been pretty challenging for everyone. I think we found a pretty good balance at that point, but we just lost a bit of speed. That it is now one’s judgment. This morning’s car, however, was hit. ”
Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing was second (232,027mph) among no-tows, and behind the champion leader, Andretti’s Alexander Rossi (231,859mph) was third in the No. 27 Honda, Marco Andretti was fourth (231,754mph), Ganassi’s Marcus Ericsson finished fifth (231,488mph) in the Honda no. 8, and Andretti’s James Hinchcliffe was sixth (231,397mph).
Adding to the theme, Andretti’s Zach Veach finished seventh in the No. 26 Honda (231,190mph), and the Andretti-affiliated Meyer Shank Racing No. 60 Honda pilot by Jack Harvey (230,970mph) was eighth. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing with Citrone / Buhl’s Spencer Pigot finished ninth (230,898mph) in the No. 45 Honda, and in 10th, Chevrolet’s first representative, AJ Foyt Racing’s Charlie Kimball, grabbed the top 10 (230,861mph) in his No. 4 entry.
If there was one major takeaway from the final qualifying preparations, it was the big difference in speed between the Honda and Chevy camps. The engines prepared by Honda Performance Development captured the top nine no-tow speeds, adding RLLR’s Takuma Sato in 11th, to sleep Chevy’s Kimball in 10th and Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden in 12th.
“We had to be realistic in looking at our speeds from a no-tow, purely round pace,” Newgarden said of his no. 1 Chevy. “I think the top 10 will be a fight, but we will fight with the Shell car.”
In the heat of the day, drivers performed more qualifying four-lap simulations, and although speeds were predictably slower, Hunter-Reay and others were able to record more laps in the 230-231mph range. With the postseason qualifying taking place shortly after the practice closed, drivers prayed for low numbers, which would send them off in the earlier, cooler conditions predicted for Saturday.
As Friday afternoon showed, a high-stakes lottery draw could qualify in the Fast Nine – which closes on Saturday and gives those nine drivers a shot on goal on Sunday – little more than a formality.
“I think tomorrow will be pretty even (with heat),” Hunter-Reay said. “Unfortunately, it will come down to the lottery of choosing the right number. If you pick early and leave at 11 a.m., it will be a completely different race track than the boys who leave later at 2:30 p.m. Hopefully we can choose a low number. Now it’s up to Lady Luck. ‘
According to IndyCar, Andretti’s 233,491mph lap was the best on Fast Friday since 1996, when Arie Luyendyk managed a lap of 239,260mph in his Reynard-Cosworth which went on to qualify for a record average of 236,986mph.
Out of extra interest in Andretti’s top lap, he placed the fastest Turn 3 speed in the Honda no. 98, with the drag and the high boost to generate 239,725mph before turning into the corner. In 2019, at mid-range boost, Conor Daly hit the highest speed entering Turn 3 in his No.25 Andretti Autosport Honda with a peak of 237,361mph.
THE RESULTS
COMBINE TIMES
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