Over 12 hours of track time has been set aside for the teams in preparation for IndyCar's biggest race. These two days will take care of Rookie Orientation and refresher requirements for returning drivers while everyone hopes to use these two days to set themselves up for a successful May.
There are many questions ahead of this testing session. We hope to address those, both procedural and quizzical questions, before any cars roll out of Gasoline Alley.
Schedule
The test session begins at 11:00 a.m. ET on Wednesday May 10 with a two-hour session for veterans. This would be for the 27 drivers who have raced an oval race since last year's Indianapolis 500. At 1:00 p.m., the two-hour Rookie Orientation/refresher session will begin. At 3:00 p.m. ET, a three-hour all-skate session will take place.
Thursday May 11 will have a six-hour all-skate session scheduled to take place from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
There are contingency plans in place for bad weather, as rain looks ominous for Thursday. There is a chance Wednesday running could go later in the day, and Friday is available as a possible rain date if IndyCar deems it necessary.
Forecast calls for an 88% chance of rain on Wednesday with showers throughout the day. Rain remains in the forecast for through Thursday. On Friday, rain may continue into the morning but pass come the afternoon. Winds could be between 20-30 mph on Friday.
Peacock will have coverage of the test.
Update: Wednesday’s on-track session will begin at 9:00 a.m. with the two-hour veterans’ session. The ROP/refresher portion will be at 11:00 a.m. and last for two hours. The all-skate will begin at 1:00 p.m. and run through 6:30 p.m.
Thursday’s schedule remains unchanged.
Who must run Rookie Orientation and the refresher program?
At the moment, there will be three drivers completing Rookie Orientation and two drivers completing the fresher program.
Kyffin Simpson, Christian Rasmussen and Nolan Siegel will be completing ROP. None of these three drivers participated in the test held at the Speedway last October when other rookies completed the required orientation.
Marco Andretti and Pietro Fittipaldi are the two drivers required to complete the refresher. Andretti's only IndyCar race was last year's Indianapolis 500. Fittipaldi's only Indianapolis 500 appearance was three years ago in 2021.
Rookie Orientation remains three phases. The first phase requires ten laps between 205-210 mph. Phase two is 15 laps between 210-215 mph. The final phase is 15 laps at 215 mph or faster. For the refresher program, a driver must complete the final two phases or Rookie Orientation, 15 laps between 210-215 mph and 15 laps at 215 ph or faster.
What should we expect for Kyle Larson?
The long-anticipated Indianapolis 500 appearance of Larson is happening this year, and the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion will get back in the car after having tested and completed Rookie Orientation last October. Larson also had another test at Phoenix International Raceway this past February where he spent about three hours on track.
These will be Larson's first official timed sessions in an IndyCar. The American drew praise from Arrow McLaren sporting director Tony Kanaan after the test in October, where Larson completed 72 laps. At the Phoenix test, Larson had a notable moment where got sideways but was able to correct the car. He ran about 200 miles at Phoenix.
Larson is driving for an Arrow McLaren team that has its wits about it at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This isn't the same McLaren that missed track time due to the car being painted the wrong shade of orange and ended up failing to qualify for the race. This isn't the same organization that missed the race and had a few years in the last chance qualifying session when known as Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. McLaren has produced race-winning caliber cars the last two years and that should likely remain the same this year.
It is still a new experience for Larson and he will continue to learn over this session and every session, including the race, should he qualify.
This is also a NASCAR Cup Series champion that has won the top dirt races in the United States from the Knoxville Nationals to the Chili Bowl and took no time getting up to a competitive speed in a dirt late model. He has a 24 Hours of Daytona overall victory as well.
There is a fine line between being the fastest man on track and being in danger of being bumped. Larson will not do anything risky during this test. The team will amp up as the two days go along, but he will not be attempting mock qualifying runs with the car fully trimmed out. The goal will be to get Larson comfortable. If he is comfortable, the speed will show and he should be in a respectable position after these two days are over.
Has Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing found speed?
It was a May of horrors for RLLR last year. Three of its four cars were in the last chance qualifying session to fill the final row, all four cars were in the bottom five, and Graham Rahal, the team's most senior driver, ended up bumped from the race.
After the nightmare of 2023, RLLR cannot afford to be close to the same position in 2024. With a lack of high-speed ovals on the IndyCar calendar, we have not great measuring stick for where RLLR stands from Indianapolis last year. In 2023, we knew at Texas the team was struggling for speed and its was unsurprising when the team found itself in the cellar when the teams showed up to 16th & Georgetown.
We don't know where RLLR stands, and perhaps RLLR doesn't know either.
It has made a few changes. Fittipaldi is in for Jack Harvey. Takuma Sato returns to the organization in a fourth entry. RLLR doubled it engineering department during the offseason, a pricey investment with David Cripps leading the oval R&D. Cripps was a key engineer at Panther Racing during its span when Panther had four consecutive runner-up finishes in the Indianapolis 500.
The goal should be the middle to start for RLLR. If it has multiple cars in the bottom ten times after these two days, it could signal another long May ahead.
Is Team Penske better than it was last year?
Josef Newgarden might have won the Indianapolis 500 last year, but let's not act like it was a brilliant month of May for the Team Penske organization.
For the fourth consecutive year, none of the Penske entries started on one of the first three rows. Prior to this stretch, the last time Penske did not have a car start in the first three rows was 2002, the team's second year back at Indianapolis after The Split. Prior to this four-year stretch, the only other year in which Team Penske participated in the Indianapolis 500 and did not have a starter in the first three rows was 1995 when both cars failed to make the race. This four-year stretch without a front row starter is the longest Team Penske has gone without a car on the front row since its first Indianapolis appearance in 1969.
Despite Penske's shortcomings last year, Newgarden ended up at the front late and led five laps on his way to winning the race. The victory makes up for Scott McLaughlin finishing 14th and Will Power finishing five laps down in 23rd after brushing the barrier with the only lap Power having led been during a pit cycle.
Team Penske has failed to have multiple top ten finishers in the Indianapolis 500 in the last four years. It was shutout of a top ten spot in 2022. Though the defending race winners, Penske has an abundant room for growth from 2023 to 2024 in this race. It cuts both ways though. Based on the last few years, we should not be surprised if Penske isn't not leading the way and setting the pace, but it is Team Penske. No one can be surprised if it has all three of its entries right at the front either.
Does inexperience hurt Chip Ganassi Racing?
Last year, Chip Ganassi Racing had three past Indianapolis 500 winners and a past runner-up finisher in the "500" in its lineup. This year, Chip Ganassi racing has three Indianapolis 500 debutants, one past Indianapolis 500 winner and a past runner-up finisher in the "500" in its lineup.
Not many teams see a wholesale change like that from one year to the next but it is what is awaiting the Ganassi organization this May. Marcus Ericsson and Takuma Sato are out. Marcus Armstrong, Linus Lundqvist and Kyffin Simpson are in.
Last year, all four Ganassi cars finished in the top ten, including Ericsson finishing second, falling 0.0974 seconds shy of becoming the first back-to-back winner since 2002, and Álex Palou overcame contact in the pit lane mid-race with Rinus VeeKay to finish fourth.
Palou and Scott Dixon are as good as any duo you could want driving for your team at Indianapolis, but there is no reason to be certain any of the Ganassi rookies will be able to match what the team did last year. None of these rookies have raced on a large oval before. The largest oval Lundqvist and Simpson have raced on is the 1.25-mile oval at Gateway Motorsports Park in Indy Lights. Armstrong has never raced on an oval before.
This team will be reliant on its top two drivers. There will not be Marcus Ericsson waiting in the wings to step up should Scott Dixon speed entering the pit lane on his final stop this year, but that aside, does Ganassi take a dip across the board because of the inexperience imbalance? Palou was on pole position last year with all four cars starting in the top ten. If the wrong car is struggling, will it drag the entire team down?
Can Andretti Global find itself back at the front?
From 2014 to 2017, the team formerly known as Andretti Autosport won the Indianapolis 500 three times. From 2018 to 2023, the team formerly known as Andretti Autosport had four combined top five finishes in the Indianapolis 500. Last year was the third time in the last four years Andretti Global did not have a top five finisher on Memorial Day weekend. Three years ago, the team didn't even place a car in the top fifteen.
Maybe a rebranded team name will help, but the Andretti Global group is taking more steps than changing some wording. With only three full-time cars, it is only entering four cars for Indianapolis. Along with full-timers Colton Herta, Kyle Kirkwood and the driver who has finished first and second the last two years in the "500," Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global brings back Marco Andretti as a one-off entry.
Last year wasn't that bad for Andretti Autosport. Kirkwood was running in a top five position when he was collateral damage after Felix Rosenqvist spun. Colton Herta had a promising race going until friendly fire in the pit lane when then-teammate Romain Grosjean collided as Herta was exiting his pit box. Despite this set back, Herta still finished ninth. Even Devlin DeFrancesco had a respectable day for the team, finishing 13th.
Andretti Global still has work to do. It has not had a top five finish on an oval since Alexander Rossi was fifth in the 2022 Indianapolis 500. It hasn't had a top three finish on an oval since Rossi was second at Texas in 2019. The team's most recent oval victory was Rossi at Pocono in 2018. The last time an Andretti driver not named Alexander Rossi finished in the top five on an oval was Colton Herta in the first Gateway race in 2020. The last time an Andretti driver not named Rossi won an oval race was Takuma Sato's 2017 Indianapolis 500 victory.
From 2014 to 2017, Andretti cars led a combined 278 of 800 laps at Indianapolis. Since 2018, the team has led only 81 of 1,200 laps run.
Was last year a fluke for A.J. Foyt Racing?
Along with Team Penske's Josef Newgarden and Chip Ganassi Racing's Marcus Ericsson, the third driver in the fight to the checkered flag in the closing laps last year was A.J. Foyt Racing's Santino Ferrucci, in what was a standout year for the Connecticut-native.
Ferrucci led 11 laps and his average running position was 5.72 after qualifying fourth. It wasn't just Ferrucci. Foyt had Benjamin Pedersen qualify 11th as both cars made it to the Fast 12. This was before the technical alliance with Team Penske as well.
It was only one race though. For all the good we saw at Indianapolis, Foyt did not replicate that pace and performance any other time in 2023. The team had no other top ten finishes during the season.
Dropping from two cars making the Fast 12 to both cars being toward the bottom of the timesheet is difficult to imagine, but there is still a chance Foyt takes a step back. That doesn't mean it cannot be competitive though.
In five years, Ferrucci has five top ten finishes. Only two other drivers have started an Indianapolis 500 career with five consecutive top ten finishes (Harry Hartz and Hélio Castroneves). Ferrucci has also done it with smaller teams, Dale Coyne Racing, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, and now Foyt. Ferrucci could still be a contender for the Fast 12 and at least put his car in the top half of the field.
Sting Ray Robb, on the other hand, must convince us. Robb has never started in the top twenty of a race in his IndyCar career. His best starting position on an oval last year was 23rd at Texas. If Benjamin Pedersen can qualify 11th, one must think Robb could at least repeat that performance, but I don't think anyone should be counting on Robb putting the second Foyt car in the top 12 until we see him on track.
Will Meyer Shank Racing and Felix Rosenqvist keep up its strong start?
There has only been one championship race so far, and it is unclear how much should be drawn from the Thermal Club exhibition race, but it is a good sign that Rosenqvist and MSR were competitive in both weekends.
Rosenqvist might have struggled on tires at St. Petersburg, but he still finished seventh after qualifying on the front row and being toward the top of every practice session. At Thermal Club, Rosenqvist won his heat race and spent the entire final race running in third position. There wasn't a drop-off at Thermal Club and that should at least be an encouragement for this group.
What also should be encouraging is Rosenqvist has run particularly well at Indianapolis the last two years. If it wasn't for a bobble in turn one last year, he could have had consecutive top five finishes. Meyer Shank Racing has not been competitive at Indianapolis since it won in 2021 with Hélio Castroneves. It is not certain MSR and Rosenqvist can keep it up at Indianapolis, but it has the partnership with Andretti Global, and Castroneves is back as a one-off driver.
Things should be better than last year, but we could leave this two-day test believing MSR is the sleeper.
Who fills the remaining seats?
At time of posting, there are two open seats on the entry list for the test, the #6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet and the #51 Dale Coyne Racing Honda.
Arrow McLaren has Callum Ilott on standby. Ilott has run the first two events in the #6 Chevrolet, as David Malukas remains out with a wrist injury. Ilott has driven the past two years in the Indianapolis 500, and he would be included in the veterans' session to kick off Wednesday.
There is not a clear favorite to end up in the #51 Honda for DCR, but Katherine Legge is the name most associated with that seat. Legge returned to the Indianapolis 500 last year for the first time in ten years and she drove for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. If Legge is the #51 Honda's driver, she will need to participate in the refresher program Wednesday afternoon.
Why haven't you mentioned Ed Carpenter Racing yet?
Geez... I don't know. The team has Rinus VeeKay, who has never started worse than fourth in four Indianapolis 500 appearances. Ed Carpenter is there, attempting to win the Indianapolis 500 for the 21st time. Christian Rasmussen will be in a third entry, which number we don't know yet. Ed Carpenter Racing will be fine. The cars will be somewhere between third and 25th once the test is complete.
Who could be in the most trouble?
It has been forgotten how much trouble Juncos Hollinger Racing was in last year. Agustín Canapino did well avoiding ever being in the bumping conversation, but Callum Ilott was in the thick of it until the team decided to switch to the backup car at the end of practice week. That switch paid off as Ilott ran his fastest all May once in the backup car and he went from almost a certain last chance qualifying participant to locked in come Saturday evening.
Even with the improvement from Ilott, JHR still had its cars qualify 27th and 28th. There is minuscule margin for error in that position. Ilott was in that spot because the team could not figure out what was wrong with its Indianapolis-prepared chassis. The car that was dedicated for this track to be running at its highest potential was in significant danger of the missing the race. The car they thrashed together and going into qualifying blind with was immediately quicker with nothing special being done.
That should not fill anyone with confidence. That should be kept in mind this year even with Romain Grosjean in the #77 Chevrolet. Grosjean has not had great outings at Indianapolis. He has done respectable in qualifying, but has yet to go the distance in the race. If the car is scary again, I don't know if JHR can pull off another magic trick.
JHR aside, the team in the most trouble is likely the team that isn't here.
Abel Motorsports has reportedly been on the verge of confirming its Indianapolis 500 program, only it hasn't yet, and it will not be competing in this week's test. Last year, Abel was not at the test and it was able to have R.C. Enerson regularly inside the top 30 during practice and did enough to have Enerson lock himself in with the 29th fastest time in Saturday qualifying.
I don't know if Abel Motorsports can pull that off a second time. Every other team is here. It is unlikely RLLR is going to go one-for-four with its cars making the top 30 for a second consecutive year. There is an extra Ganassi car and an extra McLaren. Even worse is, though it appeared Abel and the Enerson family was set to continue for a second year at Indianapolis, we still have no clear picture on what the Abel program will look like. It appears the Enerson is struggling to find sponsorship to complete the funding.
There is a chance Abel could field another driver if Enerson cannot secure the funding needed, but that only puts the team further in a corner. Whomever Abel signs would likely need to go through Rookie Orientation or the refresher program, and the team would already be two days behind on the field with a new car that has never been on the racetrack before.
We already have 34 cars set to attempt this year's Indianapolis 500. It will not be as easy as last year where Abel must beat one car to make the field. It will require beating two. This team cannot afford to lose the time it has already lost.
We should keep an eye on Tom Blomqvist as this will be his first oval race ever, and he is still adjusting to a single-seater car after spending most of the last decade in sports cars or touring cars. Indianapolis will be an eye-opener for him.
Dale Coyne Racing is another question mark. It will have Nolan Siegel in the #18 Honda, and for how good Siegel has been in Indy Lights, he has never been in an IndyCar on an oval let alone Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and he is 19 years old. Siegel likely will not even have a veteran driver to lean on. If it is Katherine Legge in the #51 Honda, the team will be pinning its Indianapolis hopes on a teenager and a driver that has one IndyCar start in the last decade.
DCR was in the last chance qualifying session last year with Sting Ray Robb. If the team cannot find pace, it might never find it this year and the team could be in massive trouble if there are 35 entries as there is a chance both cars could miss the race.
Does this test really tell us anything for May?
Well, last year Josef Newgarden topped the April test and then he won the Indianapolis 500, so whichever driver is the fastest from these test days will be your Indianapolis 500 winner. There really isn't a point in running the race. If it was only that simple. Newgarden has been the fastest car at the end of the April test the last three years, and he is only one-for-three in "500" race victories over that time.
Of last year's Fast 12 participants, only four were in the top 12 from the April test. Of the top ten finishers in last year's race, only five were in the top ten of the April test. However, in 2022, seven of the top ten from the April test made the Fast 12, and ten of the top 16 made the Fast 12. But only four of the fastest ten from the 2022 April test finished in the top ten of the 2022 race.
Marcus Ericsson and Santino Ferrucci were 18th and 25th fastest respectively in the test last year and they finished second and third. Stefan Wilson was sixth fastest in the test and he qualified 25th. In 2022, the top three finishers were eighth (Ericsson), 21st (Patricio O'Ward) and third (Tony Kanaan) in the April test. Scott Dixon, who led 95 laps from pole position, was fourth in the April test.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing was toward the bottom last year in the April test, but the speeds did not suggest it would have three of its four cars in the last chance qualifying session. Graham Rahal was the fastest in 23rd. Katherine Legge was the slowest of the RLLR cars at the test in 33rd and she ended up being the one RLLR car to lock in the race from Saturday qualifying.
Benjamin Pedersen was the slowest in last April’s test and he wound up making the Fast 12.
This test will not provide us with definitive answers for May, but we will have an a clear idea about a few teams and be leaning one way with no hard evidence as why we feel that way for the rest of them.
