Monday, May 13, 2013

Opening Weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Two days of practice for the 97th Indianapolis 500 have been completed as the IndyCar teams get ready for qualifying this weekend.

Day one saw Ed Carpenter jump to the top of the timesheet at 220.970 MPH (40.7296 seconds). Josef Newgarden was second in his T-car at 220.920 MPH and rookie Carlos Muñoz was third at 220.720 MPH. Muñoz and fellow rookies AJ Allmendinger and Tristan Vautier passed rookie orientation with ninety minutes to spare. The final rookie to complete rookie orientation will be Conor Daly who was in Spain on Saturday and Sunday racing in the GP3 Series where Daly finished 3rd and 5th. Daly is scheduled to complete rookie orientation today.

On Sunday Andretti Autosport ran all five cars and all five were in the top six positions. Muñoz continued to show his pace and was quickest at 223.023 MPH, ahead of defending IndyCar champion Ryan Hunter-Reay (222.825 MPH), EJ Viso (222.523 MPH), Marco Andretti (222.485 MPH) and AJ Allmendinger (221.279 MPH). James Hinchcliffe was sixth (220.907 MPH). Charlie Kimball was the fastest Honda in seventh on Sunday at 219.778 MPH with Carpenter (219.756 MPH), Newgarden (219.706 MPH) and Tony Kanaan (219.636 MPH) rounding out the top ten.

Drivers who have yet to take to the track for practice are Daly, the three Dale Coyne entries of Pippa Mann, Ana Beatriz and Justin Wilson, Buddy Lazier and Townsend Bell.

A third Schmidt Peterson Motorsports entry was added to the entry list on Saturday. The #99 Honda was entered without a driver. Pippa Mann has been listed as the #63 Honda. The #40 Ed Carpenter Chevrolet is still on the entry list.

Weather for today at the Speedway calls for a high of 61 degrees Fahrenheit with winds going WNW at 12 MPH. There is zero percent chance of rain.