On Thursday the Ganassi cars continued to pace the field, this time with 2022 Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson leading the way.
During the six hour practice session on Thursday, Ericsson turned the top lap, 39.1974 seconds, 229.607 mph. It was the fastest lap so far in two days of on-track activity this week, topping the 229.439 set Wednesday by Ericsson’s teammate and two-time Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato.
Ericsson not only showed speed in the pack but also the fastest with a “no-two” lap of 224.414.
“A really good day for the whole Chip Ganassi team,” Ericsson said. “Yesterday we worked a lot on the race cars. We were good straight away. Then today we built on that.
“I think we did some changes overnight that helped me in my feeling in the car. Felt really happy with my race car. The organization has done a really good job again this year, with really good cars.”
Scott Dixon, the 2008 winner of the Indy 500, ended up second at 229.186 as CGR went 1-2 on the time sheets for the second straight day.
Two other past Indy 500 winners were third and fourth in practice with 2019 winner Simon Pagenaud and Will Power. Colton Herta rounded out the top five.
In total there were 3,159 laps turned by the 34 drivers that took to the track.
On Friday engines will produce 100 more horsepower as speeds will continue to climb on ‘Fast Friday’ ahead of qualifying on Saturday and Sunday.
The 107th Indianapolis 500 is scheduled for Sunday, May 28 (11 a.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, Universo, INDYCAR Radio Network).
