Indy 500 – Marco Andretti leads first practice

Marco Andretti (Andretti Autosport) set the fastest lap in the first practice session of the 101st edition of the Indy 500 (May 28). The driver of the No. 27 set a time of 39 seconds at an average speed of 7636 mph (226,338 km/h). Only Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing) also managed to go above 334mph per lap.

“Having speed is always a good thing, commented Marco Andretti who took second place in the race in 2006. This is always the first thing we want to obtain in order to be able to concentrate more on the behavior of the car to be more comfortable. This will be my goal for the rest of the week. They now give points in qualifying and you can't ignore that, but the goal is to win the race. »

Ed Carpenter (Ed Carpenter Racing) completed the leading trio ahead of Sébastien Bourdais (Dale Coyne Racing) and Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport). simon pagenaud (Team Penske) finished 16th, three places ahead Fernando Alonso (McLaren-Honda-Andretti) just returned from the Spanish GP.

" Everything went very well, explained Fernando Alonso. We had some problems with the rear suspension and we weren't really able to navigate the traffic at the end of the session. I am more satisfied than during my first tests (on May 3) with the car because the adjustments made in the morning bore fruit. »

The only incident of the session to deplore was the contact with the wall of Jack Harvey (Michael Shank Racinf with Andretti Autosport). The American was unhurt but was only able to complete the first phase of his Rookie Orientation Program. Ed Jones (Dale Coyne Racing) was able to complete his phases while Jay Howard (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports), Sebastian Saavedra (Juncos Racing) and Oriol Servia (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) completed the two veteran phases.