Defending Indy 500 champion Newgarden served up a flying lap of 226.238mph within the No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet to edge out Andretti World’s Colton Herta by 0.0028s.
“The workforce’s achieved an excellent job,” mentioned Newgarden. “I really like this place. We’ll see how issues shake up since you received to be prepared for the whole lot.”
Herta, who was routinely within the combine and moved by way of the sector on a number of events, was on high of the leaderboard throughout the early a part of the session. He logged 96 laps, the fourth-most on the day.
“I believe we’re there,” Herta mentioned. “I really feel actually, actually pleased with the automobile for the time being.”
The No. 12 Crew Penske Chevrolet of 2018 winner Will Power ended up third, 0.0177s behind team-mate Newgarden.
Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Agustin Canapino wrapped up the session in fourth, forward of Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward in fifth.
Rookie Christian Rasmussen was sixth, logging 100 laps within the No.33 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet with a better of 225.718mph (0.0916s behind Newgarden).
Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
Photograph by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, the 2008 Indy 500 winner, was seventh. The No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet of Romain Grosjean was eighth, forward of Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi in ninth.
Marco Andretti rounded out the ultimate spot of the highest 10, placing the No. 98 Andretti Herta Honda 0.1825s off the tempo set by Newgarden.
Though it was a superb day on the timesheets, Newgarden had an in depth name after hitting the kerb in Flip 2 with half-hour left.
The No. 28 Andretti World Honda of Marcus Ericsson, the 2022 Indy 500 champion, and Conor Daly’s Dreyer & Reinbold Chevrolet had a near-miss on pit lane within the closing 25 minutes.
Daly was launched and nearly collided with Ericsson, who was sliding into his pitbox. Because of this, Daly was handed a drive-through penalty for an unsafe pitlane launch.
Rookie Tom Blomqvist logged a session-most 106 laps however spun exiting his pitbox within the closing 11 minutes. He ended up sixteenth on the timesheets at 0.2906s behind the highest mark.
There was a warning flag thrown on the midway level for a monitor inspection, which put a short lived halt to the on-track motion that featured some wild moments of three-wide working and loads of overtaking strikes in preparation for Sunday’s large race.