Indy 500 – FP3: O'Ward leads ahead of the highly anticipated "Fast Friday"

Pato O'Ward, the Mexican Arrow pilot McLaren completed a lap in 227,308 mph (365,817 km/h) at the wheel of his No. 5 Dallara-Chevrolet. Achieved in traffic with the help of the slipstream, this performance constitutes his best time of the week, although it remains below the benchmarks set on Wednesday by Conor Daly (228,080 mph or 367,059 km/h) and the defending champion Alex Palou (228,026 mph or 366,972), in cooler conditions.

" NOTWe worked on long runs and did some qualifying simulations. The car is well balanced "O'Ward explained. Tomorrow, with the increased engine boost, the behavior will change significantly. So far, everything has gone very smoothly. »

"Fast Friday" traditionally marks a key stage in the teams' preparation. The Honda and Chevrolet engines will have approximately 100 additional horsepower thanks to increased turbo pressure, a configuration also used during qualifying sessions scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.

Behind O'Ward, Helio Castroneves The Meyer Shank Racing Dallara-Honda #06 finished second with a top speed of 226,977 mph (365,284 km/h). The American team also had a strong showing as a team, placing all three of its cars in the top four.

Marcus Armstrong recorded the third fastest time at 226,841 mph (365,065 km/h), ahead of his teammate Felix Rosenqvist (226,626 mph or 364,719 km/h). Alexander Rossi completes the top 5 with a lap of 226,364 mph (364,297 km/h) for Ed Carpenter Racing, a great reaction after an engine change made on Wednesday. Romain Grosjean (Dale Coyne Racing) finished in eighth place.

In preparation for qualifying, attention also turned to speeds achieved without a tow. In this exercise, Takuma Sato was fastest with a lap of 223,828 mph (360,216 km/h) at the wheel of the No. 75 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Dallara-Honda. He finished ahead of Scott McLaughlin and his Team Penske Dallara-Chevrolet, which reached 223,738 mph (360,071 km/h).

The 33 cars entered completed a total of 1,469 laps without incident during this six-hour session. Rossi was the most active driver on track, completing 68 laps on the 2,5-mile oval.

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The ranking of Free Practice 3

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