INDY 500 - Wed. May 16 Midday Update
INDIANAPOLIS -RIS- (May 16, 2018) The threat of rain has been reduced to a suggestion, and the entrants for the 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500 here at the Indianapoplis Motor Speedway have taken advantage of the partly cloudy, 78-degree weather to work on settling the new IndyCar aero package.
All 35 entrants have appeared on-track, thus far turning over 1300 practice laps.
Andretti Autosport's favorite son, Marco Andretti, is the man atop the speed chart at midday, running a best lap of 226.900 mph.
The new cars are visually significantly more-appealing than the last Dallara-designed aero kit for the current DW12 chassis, now in its seventh year of competition. Paint schemes for the new cars are appealing, but any notion of using car numbers to identify drivers is hopeless; use of a spotter's guide will be necessary, and even then, not that easy.
Pop up rain showers may present themselves in the late afternoon, so practice proceeds apace.
P | CAR | DRIVER | ENG | DIFF | BLS | BLN | LAPS | NTS | NTR | NTLN | |||
1 | 98 | Marco Andretti | Honda | -- | 226.900 | 12 | 29 | 221.446 | 8 | 26 | |||
2 | 9 | Scott Dixon | Honda | 0.1001 | 226.329 | 7 | 45 | 219.479 | 17 | 14 | |||
3 | 14 | Tony Kanaan | Chevy | 0.2038 | 225.740 | 16 | 41 | 223.048 | 1 | 10 | |||
4 | 20 | Ed Carpenter | Chevy | 0.3059 | 225.164 | 8 | 33 | 222.754 | 2 | 21 | |||
5 | 29 | Carlos Munoz | Honda | 0.4130 | 224.562 | 4 | 27 | 220.171 | 14 | 35 | |||
6 | 21 | Spencer Pigot | Chevy | 0.4162 | 224.544 | 14 | 32 | 220.202 | 13 | 20 | |||
7 | 7 | Jay Howard | Honda | 0.4171 | 224.539 | 4 | 56 | 219.093 | 22 | 25 | |||
8 | 4 | Matheus Leist | Chevy | 0.4229 | 224.507 | 6 | 32 | 221.682 | 5 | 22 | |||
9 | 59 | Max Chilton | Chevy | 0.4328 | 224.451 | 8 | 23 | 221.625 | 6 | 21 | |||
10 | 24 | Sage Karam | Chevy | 0.4534 | 224.336 | 14 | 37 | 220.904 | 11 | 4 |
Diff = Difference
BLS = Best Lap Speed
LLS = Last Lap Speed
BLT = Best Lap Time
LLT = Last Lap Time
BLN = Best Lap Number
NTS = Best No-Tow Lap Speed
NTT = Best No-Tow Lap Time
NTR = Rank by No-Tow Speed
NTLN = Best No-Tow Lap Number
Tom Beeler
Tom has been a contributor to RIS since 1992. He was invited to join the staff as a full-time reporter/editor in 1995, and has covered IndyCar, Formula 1, NASCAR, Grand-Am, ALMS and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In addition to his RIS work, Tom has been a contributor for General Motors, Nissan, Toyota and the ACO.