Similar to yesterday’s conditions, delays impacted running at Indianapolis, but after an hour the second practice session ahead of the Indy 500, finally got underway.
Opening thirty minutes
Immediately drivers were going for lap times at Indianapolis. Kyffin Simpson, Colton Herta and Nolan Siegel were the first to take to the track for practice. The trio immediately went into the 200s and after doing a prep lap, David Malukas and Alexander Rossi also set speeds in the 200mph window. Kyle Kirkwood followed a similar approach to the trio, whereas Conor Daly and Sting Ray Robb elected to prep then go quicker.
Pato O’Ward and Scott Dixon also set 200+ speeds, but in the opening five minutes, Kirkwood led from Malukas, Daly and Herta.
Dixon and Simpson both improved to go into first and third, as Dixon set a 224mph time, the first to do so on day two.
Opening times on Tuesday Indy 500 practice
Christian Rasmussen, Alex Palou, Kyle Larson, Felix Rosenqvist and Santino Ferrucci also went and set times, albeit not above 220mph initially.
Rosenqvist almost set a 220mph going into eighth. Ferrucci then became the eighth to set a 220+ speed behind Robb, Herta, Daly, Simpson, Kirkwood, Malukas and Dixon. Helio Castroneves, Ed Carpenter, Scott McLaughlin and Jack Harvey also set times. After an okay first lap, McLaughlin moved up to sixth, showing his pace even early on. The momentum continued, going third with a 223.545mph speed.
Ten minutes in, Dixon led Malukas, McLaughlin, Kirkwood, Simpson, Daly, Herta, Robb, Ferrucci and Harvey.
A positive sign was Prema getting out early on track, albeit not setting competitive times until around 20 minutes in with Callum Ilott and Robert Shwartzman both setting times in the 218s.
After a while of the top ten remaining the same, Marco Andretti, the grandson of 1969 winner Mario Andretti, went eighth. Speaking of Indy 500 winners, at this stage, some 18 minutes in, Dixon was first, Marcus Ericsson was 12th, Josef Newgarden was 18th, Castroneves was 20th, Ryan Hunter-Reay was 22nd, Alexander Rossi was 27th, Takuma Sato was 28th and Will Power was just heading onto the track.
Alex Palou went fifth with a 223.395mph time, which meant three Ganassis were in the top six.
Harvey and Hunter-Reay both improved, as the DRR duo went into 10th and 12th. Another driver doing only the Indy 500, Kyle Larson briefly went eighth, before Hunter-Reay again improved to go sixth.
Most of the pack were using the draft from other cars ahead to give them more speed. In fact, packs were already forming in the opening half hour of the session.
End of the first hour, all drivers setting speeds
Herta jumped up to sixth with a 223.368mph, bumping Harvey outside of the top ten. Daly and Marcus Armstrong also improved, going eighth and ninth. Once again Herta improved as he went third behind Malukas and Dixon.
As for the rookies, Shwartzman was 25th, Louis Foster was 31st and Nolan Siegel, who failed to qualify in 2024, was 32nd. Jacob Abel hadn’t set a time in the opening thirty minutes, the only driver not to do so.
Palou changed the timing screens slightly as he jumped up to third, putting two Ganassis in the top three, stopped only by Malukas from Foyt.
Ferrucci was struggling quite a bit, and his car was now not even on pitlane. By contrast, Will Power was the first driver of the day to set a 225 at the Brickyard, going top with a 225.584 mph speed, continuing his pace from yesterday.
Siegel also improved, going ninth. The McLaren driver didn’t last long there though as Ericsson went marginally quicker. Ericsson will be aiming to take his second Indy 500 win after he famously drank the milk in 2022. Ilott was the quickest driver without a tow on day two albeit he was down in 25th.
52 minutes in, the first track inspection occurred, which briefly left Takuma Sato as the sole driver on track while he made it back to the pits under the yellow.
After the first hour, Power led from Dixon, Malukas, Palou, Herta, McLaughlin, Kirkwood, Hunter-Reay, Ericsson, Siegel, Daly, Armstrong, Simpson, Larson, Harvey, Rosenqvist, Rossi, Foster, O’Ward, Andretti, Sato, Robb, VeeKay, DeFrancesco, Ilott, Ferrucci, Castroneves, Rasmussen, Abel, Shwartzman, Newgarden, Rahal, Carpenter and Lundgaard.
The second hour
After the yellow, Shwartzman, Andretti, Castroneves and Malukas immediately went back out. Shwartzman was having a good session, moving up to 18th as a rookie in a rookie team in Prema with a speed of 222.042 mph as his best lap speed.
Two drivers quickly managed to move their way up the timing order, as Armstrong went fourth and Castroneves went seventh. Newgarden became the second driver to go into the 225s, jumping just behind Power less than 0.1 mph slower.
The Penskes looked quick in general during Indy 500 practice, with the lowest Penske being McLaughlin in tenth. Rasmussen had moved up to eighth, which was impressive for the second-year driver. Harvey then improved as well to go sixth.
Only Abel, Rahal, Carpenter and Lundgaard hadn’t set 220+ mph lap speeds so far. Rahal’s teammate Sato went 11th with a 223.583 mph lap speed. Rahal himself improved to 13th.
Rasmussen improved once again, going seventh.
The third hour
Dixon became the third driver to set a 225mph lap but remained third as the only non-Penske. Lundgaard finally came back out onto the circuit after remaining in the garage for some time. Carpenter also had a similar story.
Not many drivers were out on the track, as the track was only 76 degrees, giving teams and drivers an opportunity to look at their setups and make the appropriate changes, or look at the data of the previous runs. Some who remained on the track were doing long runs.
The driver with the least laps was Santino Ferrucci and Ryan Hunter-Reay, who had done only ten times. By contrast, Helio Castroneves had done 70. At this stage, the five quickest no-tow times were Herta, Kirkwood, Andretti, Shwartzman and Ilott.
Dixon once again marginally improved, but once more, he remained in third. Rain then arrived, suspending the session.
The final hour of a disturbed Indy 500 practice
After an extensive day, practice resumed with just hour and 15 minutes remaining. Ryan Hunter-Reay was the first to take to the circuit, as he attempted to gather more data. He pulled back into the pits after just two laps.
Others quickly took to the oval, as Happy Hour began. Alex Palou jumped to his now customary position at the top of the timesheets, demoting Will Power into second with the fastest time of the test.
With 48 minutes to go, Newgarden pulled into the pits for the last time, deciding he had enough data for today. This coincided with another caution for rain.
With less than half an hour to go, the session resumed, and 15 cars took to the track. Drivers could now rather data on a full race stint.
But no one could topple Palou, who along with Power, looked to the driver to beat at the famed oval.
