Josef Newgarden tops Indy 500 testing with 229mph lap

Newgarden’s best run came on his 89^th of 119 laps, carving a 39.2125sec lap around the iconic 2.5-mile oval to set fastest speed at 229.519mph.

In today’s four hour session – delayed by morning rain and mist – 15 cars beat Scott Dixon’s marker from yesterday’s foreshortened test.

Newgarden’s closest challenger was two-time Indy 500 champion Takuma Sato in the Dale Coyne Racing with RWR-Honda, who was less than 0.1mph slower than the Penske driver, and ahead of Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda’s extra entry, driven by 2013 Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan and Dixon.

Last year’s Indy 500 Rookie of the Year Scott McLaughlin was fifth ahead of the fastest Andretti Autosport-Honda, the Kulr-backed #98 piloted by 2020 polesitter Marco Andretti.

Alex Palou, last year’s runner-up was seventh for Ganassi ahead of IndyCar Series sophomore but Indy 500 rookie Jimmie Johnson, who was the first driver to crack a 225mph lap and also looked very comfortable in traffic.

Marcus Ericsson ensured all five Ganassi entries were in the Top 10, and the Swede also turned the most laps today, at 148.

Despite that encouragement for Ganassi-Honda, the top six laps set without the aid of a tow came from Chevrolet drivers, the fastest of whom was Rinus VeeKay in the #21 Ed Carpenter Racing entry. His car also looked impressively stable in the draft, appearing able to pull out and pass anyone who got in his way.

The three Arrow McLaren SP-Chevys of Felix Rosenqvist, Pato O’Ward and Juan Pablo Montoya may have only ended up ninth, 21^st and 31^st respectively but all three were able to hang tight to cars in front through the turns, and two-time Indy winner reported that he was in a happy place with the car, and far more comfortable with its handling than last year.

2018 Indy winner Will Power said he was very happy with his race setup, and his car appeared to be a rocketship through Turn 4, but he admitted in terms of outright pace no one would know where they stand until the boost is turned up and cars run solo without the aid of a draft during qualifying simulations.

Helio Castroneves, who suffered a shunt at Turn 2 yesterday, did not return to action today, as predicted. There were no accidents today, the only yellows coming for track inspections, although at least twice Indy rookie Romain Grosjean drifted high in dirty air through Turn 1 and flirted with the wall.

.@RGrosjean huggin' that wall a little too close.#INDYCAR // #Indy500 pic.twitter.com/BZWzrskxDb

— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) April 21, 2022

P	#	Driver	FTime	FL	Laps	FSpeed	Engine	Team
1	2	Josef Newgarden	39.2125	89	119	229.519	Chevy	Team Penske
2	51	Takuma Sato	39.2282	61	84	229.427	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR
3	1	Tony Kanaan	39.3413	53	72	228.767	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
4	9	Scott Dixon	39.3548	109	115	228.689	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
5	3	Scott McLaughlin	39.4051	116	127	228.397	Chevy	Team Penske
6	98	Marco Andretti	39.4417	113	113	228.185	Honda	Andretti Herta Autosport w/ Marco & Curb
7	10	Alex Palou	39.4636	105	147	228.058	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
8	48	Jimmie Johnson	39.4910	129	138	227.900	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
9	7	Felix Rosenqvist	39.5062	43	123	227.812	Chevy	Arrow McLaren SP
10	8	Marcus Ericsson	39.5110	35	148	227.785	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
11	60	Simon Pagenaud	39.5474	63	90	227.575	Honda	Meyer Shank Racing
12	23	Santino Ferrucci	39.5623	123	124	227.489	Chevy	Dreyer & Reinbold
13	24	Sage Karam	39.5734	103	109	227.425	Chevy	Dreyer & Reinbold
14	12	Will Power	39.6120	82	114	227.204	Chevy	Team Penske
15	21	Rinus VeeKay	39.6137	77	101	227.194	Chevy	Ed Carpenter Racing
16	28	Romain Grosjean	39.6445	131	145	227.018	Honda	Andretti Autosport
17	77	Callum Ilott	39.7183	97	100	226.596	Chevy	Juncos Hollinger Racing
18	20	Conor Daly	39.7322	61	84	226.517	Chevy	Ed Carpenter Racing
19	29	Devlin DeFrancesco	39.7762	95	100	226.266	Honda	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport
20	45	Jack Harvey	39.7836	57	83	226.224	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
21	5	Pato O'Ward	39.7880	15	99	226.199	Chevy	Arrow McLaren SP
22	18	David Malukas	39.8030	66	100	226.114	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing with HMD
23	27	Alexander Rossi	39.8145	138	138	226.048	Honda	Andretti Autosport
24	15	Graham Rahal	39.8504	77	108	225.845	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
25	11	JR Hildebrand	39.8866	34	51	225.640	Chevy	AJ Foyt Enterprises
26	14	Kyle Kirkwood	39.8974	93	97	225.579	Chevy	AJ Foyt Enterprises
27	4	Dalton Kellett	40.0159	65	65	224.911	Chevy	AJ Foyt Enterprises
28	26	Colton Herta	40.0381	114	134	224.786	Honda	Andretti Autosport
29	30	Christian Lundgaard	40.1454	97	109	224.185	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
30	33	Ed Carpenter	40.1497	10	63	224.161	Chevy	Ed Carpenter Racing
31	6	Juan Pablo Montoya	40.1822	40	67	223.980	Chevy	Arrow McLaren SP