A second full day of Indy 500 practice was held Wednesday afternoon at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Temperatures were markedly cooler than the day before, making for nearly ideal conditions for drivers to set their fastest times of practice so far apart from some gusty northwest winds.
For much of the first portion of the day, most teams chose to work on their qualifying setups.
They did their best to find clean sections of track with no other drivers around to disrupt their drivers’ simulated four lap runs.
In the final two hours of the day when the track heated up a bit, drivers went out on track in groups. At times 20 of the 33 cars were on track at a time, followed by periods where next to no drivers were on track.
It was in one of those groups with a hefty tow that Conor Daly set the fastest lap of the day.
He completed a circuit of the 2.5-mile oval in 39.4598 seconds, averaging 228.080 MPH.
“We weren’t even flat on that lap, so I don’t know,” said Daly. “The car feels pretty good.
“Honestly, it was very exciting out there too. I saw more side by side racing out there on that run than I’ve seen in practice for a long time, so that’s good.”
Daly was one of two drivers to top the 228 MPH mark, with Tuesday’s fast man Alex Palou close behind at 228.026 MPH late in the day.
David Malukas was third quick, followed by Graham Rahal and Romain Grosjean in fourth and fifth.
The best no-tow time was set by Pato O’Ward, with his Chevy powerplant boosting him to a lap of 221.409 MPH with no assistance from cars in front.
Bob and weave
High speeds were not the only goal of today’s running, with strategic planning part of the agenda as well.
The group running served to test the team’s race setups and allowed drivers to get a feel for dirty air and each other’s racing tactics.
Drivers passed each other back and forth, testing the limits of their comfort as they made mental notes for how deep into each corner they could send their attacks.
As was the case the day before, there were no incidents on track. The only stoppages were for some quick debris cleanup and track inspection.
More laps were completed than Tuesday, with 2,542 in total logged during this six hour session.
Alex Palou completed the most laps with 118 done, and even Sting Ray Robb, who turned the fewest of the day, completed 44 circuits at speed.
Slowest on the charts was Katherine Legge, who recently announced she will be the first woman to make an attempt at ‘The Double’ this year.
The 45-year-old has raced in four previous Indy 500s, but seemingly has a lot of work to do with her AJ Foyt Racing / HMD Motorsports crew to get up to pace.
Another six hour practice day is on tap for Thursday, with the forecast very similar to Wednesday except for considerably calmer wind.