Indy 500 testing: Dixon leads McLaughlin in opening session

The start of the test was delayed 90mins due to rain, but when the two-hour session for the 24 veterans – including two rookies who completed their Rookie Orientation Program – it was Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda’s six-time IndyCar Series champion Dixon who clocked a 225.622mph lap.

The veteran Kiwi is embarking on preparations for his 20^th attempt at the legendary Memorial Day Weekend race and was the only driver to crack the 40sec barrier, leading his rivals by 1.7mph.

His nearest pursuer was Scott McLaughlin, who opened the IndyCar season with a win at St. Petersburg, but arguably the most encouraging aspect of the session for Team Penske-Chevrolet squad is that McLaughlin and teammates Will Power (eighth overall) and Josef Newgarden (16^th) sat 1-2-3 in the laps set without a tow. In addition, Power set the fastest Turn 1 and Turn 3 trap speeds.

Santino Ferrucci put Dreyer & Reinbold Racing-Chevrolet into third, ahead of Romain Grosjean, the fastest of the Andretti Autosport-Honda drivers who completed his Rookie Orientation Program last fall.

Pato O’Ward was fifth for Arrow McLaren SP-Chevy, ahead of rookie and NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson in the Carvana-backed Ganassi car, who turned 37 laps.

He was followed closely by teammate and last year’s runner-up Alex Palou, who was marginally faster than three 500 winners – Power, Takuma Sato of Dale Coyne Racing with RWR-Honda and defending winner Helio Castroneves of Meyer Shank Racing.

Aside from yellows for debris – including part of car wrap that came off Dalton Kellett’s AJ Foyt Racing-Chevy – the only incident of note was Alexander Rossi spinning his Andretti Autosport-Honda on the warm-up lane as he exited the pits for an installation lap. The car was undamaged but he flat-spotted his tires as he kept it off the inside wall while completing his 360deg gyration.

There eight-car Rookies and Refreshers program is now underway, featuring two-time winner Juan Pablo Montoya in the third Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet, 2006 runner-up and 2020 polesitter Marco Andretti in the fifth Andretti Autosport-Honda, five full-time IndyCar rookies – David Malukas (Coyne), Kyle Kirkwood (Foyt), Devlin DeFrancesco (Andretti), Christian Lundgaard (Rahal Letterman Lanigan) and Callum Ilott (Juncos Hollinger) – and Sage Karam in the second Dreyer & Reinbold entry.

Following this two-hour session, the track will be open to all for a further three hours.

P	#	Driver	Team-Engine	Fastest lap	Total
1	9	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda	225.622	20
2	3	Scott McLaughlin	Team Penske-Chevrolet	223.984	32
3	23	Santino Ferrucci	Dreyer & Reinbold-Chevrolet	223.053	20
4	28	Romain Grosjean	Andretti Autosport-Honda	222.727	9
5	5	Pato O’Ward	Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet	222.660	38
6	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda	222.255	37
7	10	Alex Palou	Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda	222.096	25
8	12	Will Power	Team Penske-Chevrolet	221.936	38
9	51	Takuma Sato	Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR-Honda	221.920	28
10	6	Helio Castroneves	Meyer Shank Racing-Honda	221.879	27
11	7	Felix Rosenqvist	Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet	221.776	36
12	4	Dalton Kellett	AJ Foyt Racing-Chevrolet	221.501	43
13	11	JR Hildebrand	AJ Foyt Racing-Chevrolet	221.475	17
14	26	Colton Herta	Andretti Autosport-Honda	221.260	7
15	27	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Autosport-Honda	221.192	5
16	2	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske-Chevrolet	221.131	32
17	33	Ed Carpenter	Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet	221.060	17
18	60	Simon Pagenaud	Meyer Shank Racing-Honda	221.047	17
19	20	Conor Daly	Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet	221.043	30
20	8	Marcus Ericsson	Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda	220.853	31
21	1	Tony Kanaan	Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda	220.411	14
22	21	Rinus VeeKay	Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet	220.227	22
23	15	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda	219.831	37
24	45	Jack Harvey	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda	218.877	35