SPEEDWAY, IN: Ryan Briscoe paced a frenetic practice day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as 35 cars combined to turn 2,628 laps in preparation for the 92nd Running of the Indianapolis 500.
Thursday’s session was the first significant practice time since May 9. Rain washed out all activity on May 11, including Second Day Qualifying, and limited green flag time to 30 minutes on May 14. The track was closed May 12-13.
Briscoe, who qualified third in the No. 6 Team Penske machine May 10, lapped the 2.5-mile oval in 40.2311 seconds, 223.708 mph. His teammate, Helio Castroneves, was second-fastest at 223.284 mph, and pole sitter Scott Dixon was third (223.192 mph).
Among the 24 drivers who have not yet qualified for the 22 remaining starting positions, 2008 Long Beach Grand Prix winner Will Power topped the chart (sixth overall). Power’s best lap was 222.657 mph. Veteran John Andretti was next fastest among those still on the outside looking in, with a speed of 222.474 mph, followed by former Pole winner Bruno Junqueira (222.303 mph), former winner Buddy Rice (222.108 mph) and rookie E.J. Viso (222.108 mph).
With an uncertain forecast for today’s scheduled six-hour practice, teams wasted no time getting in their work. Twenty-six cars were on track within the first 10 minutes of the green flag. A light rain began falling late in the afternoon, ending practice 18 minutes early
Thirty-five cars were on track today, turning 2,628 laps, most of any day this month and 31 percent of the month’s total. Previously, the most laps on a single day was 1,471 by 32 cars on Saturday, May 10.
Tomorrow’s final day of practice before the second weekend of time trials should see both former winner Buddy Lazier and 2007 Rookie of the Year Phil Giebler on the Speedway for first time this year. Obviously, they will have their work cut out for them.
Thursday’s overall speed chart: Pos Driver Name Best Time Best Speed Best Lap Total Laps 1 Ryan Briscoe (6T) 40.2311 223.708 25 74 2 Helio Castroneves (3T) 40.3075 223.284 26 94 3 Scott Dixon (9) 40.3241 223.192 6 88 4 Tony Kanaan (11) 40.3805 222.880 22 97 5 Tomas Scheckter (12) 40.3942 222.804 12 95 6 Will Power (8) 40.4210 222.657 52 73 7 John Andretti (24) 40.4542 222.474 52 55 8 Hideki Mutoh (27) 40.4657 222.411 7 105 9 Dan Wheldon (10) 40.4716 222.378 2 109 10 Bruno Junqueira (18) 40.4852 222.303 17 47 11 Buddy Rice (15) 40.4946 222.252 30 65 12 EJ Viso (33) 40.5209 222.108 64 77 13 Marco Andretti (26) 40.5680 221.850 8 101 14 Vitor Meira (4T) 40.5839 221.763 18 81 15 Jeff Simmons (41) 40.6559 221.370 3 39 16 Alex Lloyd (16) 40.6735 221.274 8 97 17 Justin Wilson (02) 40.6760 221.261 5 95 18 Danica Patrick (7) 40.7003 221.129 3 97 19 Ed Carpenter (20T) 40.7387 220.920 9 45 20 Townsend Bell (99) 40.7507 220.855 57 89 21 Graham Rahal (06) 40.7543 220.836 38 84 22 Mario Moraes (19) 40.7632 220.787 7 87 23 Oriol Servia (5) 40.7739 220.729 19 62 24 Darren Manning (14) 40.7751 220.723 32 46 25 Enrique Bernoldi (36) 40.8018 220.579 19 79 26 Milka Duno (23) 40.8318 220.416 6 72 27 Davey Hamilton (22) 40.8737 220.190 7 65 28 Mario Dominguez (96) 40.9223 219.929 21 75 29 Max Papis (44) 40.9239 219.920 52 81 30 Marty Roth (25) 40.9772 219.634 57 60 31 Sarah Fisher (67) 40.9890 219.571 12 38 32 A.J. Foyt IV (2) 41.0004 219.510 33 74 33 Jaime Camara (34) 41.0494 219.248 5 83 34 Ryan Hunter-Reay (17T) 41.2087 218.400 50 63
35 Roger Yasukawa (98) 41.3813 217.490 15 36
IndyCar SeriesJohn AtlasThe Dirt Guy