As expected, "Fast Friday" lived up to its billing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Speeds crested in the final practice day prior to weekend qualifications for the 101st Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil, despite 2.5 hours of track time lost to midday rain. When the checkered flag waved to conclude practice, Sebastien Bourdais had the fastest lap of the day and week, at 233.116 mph.
"There's never a bad day when you're at the front," said Bourdais, driver of the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda.
The four-time Indy car champion ranks sixth all-time with 36 wins, but Bourdais has never qualified or finished better than seventh in six previous Indianapolis 500 starts. The 38-year-old Frenchman feels good about his chances this year.
"The car felt good," said Bourdais, who pocketed $10,000 for being fastest on the day. "We tried a couple of things and finished the session really happy with the speed and the car balance. Hopefully it stays that way. ... It's pretty exciting just to be in the mix, knowing that we seemingly have a chance to do well in qualifying."
Bourdais drew the 19th qualifying position among the primary cars for the 33 drivers slated to make four-lap runs in Saturday's first day of time trials on the 2.5-mile oval. Each car is guaranteed one attempt through the qualifying line and teams may make additional attempts as time permits. The fastest nine cars at the conclusion of Saturday's qualifying are locked into Sunday's Fast Nine Shootout to determine the Verizon P1 Award and pole sitter for the May 28 race.
Drivers spent most of the available track time today trimming out the downforce in their cars to conduct qualifying simulation runs. Following Bourdais atop the speed chart were a trio of Andretti Autosport drivers: Ryan Hunter-Reay, Takuma Sato and Fernando Alonso.
Hunter-Reay's best lap was 232.132 mph in the No. 28 DHL Honda. The 2014 Indianapolis 500 winner also racked up the fastest lap of the week without an aerodynamic tow from a car in front, 231.273 mph.
Hunter-Reay, Bourdais, 2013 Indy 500 champion Tony Kanaan and defending race winner Alexander Rossi all exceeded 231 mph on no-tow laps. All teams benefited from the INDYCAR regulation upping turbocharger boost equating to about 30 added horsepower, which continues through qualifying.
"We had a good run today, found some things that worked and found some things that didn't," Hunter-Reay said. "It was definitely one of the most on-edge couple of days this whole year. It's nice to be done with the day and we're looking forward to tomorrow. Hopefully the weather cooperates and we can put this (No.) 28 DHL Honda at the front."
Juan Pablo Montoya, in the No. 22 Fitzgerald Glider Kits Team Penske Chevrolet, was fifth on the day at 231.682 mph. The two-time Indy 500 champion was the only Chevy driver among the top 12 on the time sheet.
"We didn't do a lot of laps, but we accomplished enough," Montoya said. "We'll see what the weather does tomorrow. If the schedule starts getting shuffled around, then we need to be ready to go when we can. Hopefully, it won't affect us that much. I like where the car is, but we'll find out for sure tomorrow."
1 18 Bourdais, Sebastien D/H/H/F Practice 5 00:38.6074 233.116 211
2 28 Hunter-Reay, Ryan D/H/H/F Practice 5 00:38.7711 232.132 223
3 26 Sato, Takuma D/H/H/F Practice 5 00:38.7983 231.969 285
4 29 Alonso, Fernando (R) D/H/H/F Practice 5 00:38.8220 231.827 318
5 22 Montoya, Juan Pablo D/C/C/F Practice 5 00:38.8463 231.682 151
6 5 Hinchcliffe, James D/H/H/F Practice 5 00:38.8740 231.517 239
7 7 Aleshin, Mikhail D/H/H/F Practice 5 00:38.8858 231.447 230
8 77 Howard, Jay D/H/H/F Practice 5 00:38.9181 231.255 267
9 19 Jones, Ed (R) D/H/H/F Practice 5 00:38.9185 231.252 218
10 98 Rossi, Alexander D/H/H/F Practice 5 00:38.9288 231.191 250
11 10 Kanaan, Tony D/H/H/F Practice 5 00:38.9519 231.054 179
12 9 Dixon, Scott D/H/H/F Practice 5 00:38.9584 231.016 264
13 3 Castroneves, Helio D/C/C/F Practice 5 00:38.9640 230.982 262
14 16 Servia, Oriol D/H/H/F Practice 5 00:38.9801 230.887 219
15 27 Andretti, Marco D/H/H/F Practice 5 00:39.0000 230.769 255
16 12 Power, Will D/C/C/F Practice 5 00:39.0088 230.717 232
17 20 Carpenter, Ed D/C/C/F Practice 5 00:39.0097 230.712 278
18 8 Chilton, Max D/H/H/F Practice 5 00:39.0225 230.636 236
19 21 Hildebrand, JR D/C/C/F Practice 5 00:39.0241 230.627 306
20 83 Kimball, Charlie D/H/H/F Practice 5 00:39.0735 230.335 291
21 63 Mann, Pippa D/H/H/F Practice 5 00:39.1130 230.103 168
22 15 Rahal, Graham D/H/H/F Practice 5 00:39.1292 230.007 266
23 1 Pagenaud, Simon D/C/C/F Practice 5 00:39.1350 229.973 222
24 2 Newgarden, Josef D/C/C/F Practice 5 00:39.3660 228.624 166
25 50 Harvey, Jack (R) D/H/H/F Practice 5 00:39.4001 228.426 229
26 24 Karam, Sage D/C/C/F Practice 5 00:39.4462 228.159 227
27 14 Munoz, Carlos D/C/C/F Practice 5 00:39.4813 227.956 253
28 4 Daly, Conor D/C/C/F Practice 5 00:39.6083 227.225 247
29 88 Chaves, Gabby D/C/C/F Practice 5 00:39.6182 227.168 212
30 40 Veach, Zach (R) D/C/C/F Practice 5 00:39.6333 227.082 226
31 17 Saavedra, Sebastian D/C/C/F Practice 5 00:39.7835 226.224 158
32 11 Pigot, Spencer D/C/C/F Practice 5 00:39.7931 226.170 195
33 44 Lazier, Buddy D/C/C/F Practice 5 00:40.9761 219.640 31
34 50 Andretti, Marco D/H/H/F Practice 2 00:41.8939 214.828 6
Total Laps for Combined Sessions: 7520
(C)hassis: D=Dallara | (A)erokit: C=Chevy, H=Honda | (E)ngine: C=Chevy, H=Honda | (T)ire:
