Official Indy500 thread

Z

Zyraz

Expert Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2011
Messages
2,660
Reaction score
32
caroper said:
Go To:
http://www.indycar.com/Schedule

scroll down till you see:
View attachment 436486

Looks like a live stream for every session apart from quali and race.
Click to expand...






Alonso tops rookie and refreshers test for Indy 500

Two-time Formula 1 World Champion Fernando Alonso put the McLaren Honda Andretti #29 entry top in the two-hour rookies and refreshers test that opened practice for the 101st Indianapolis 500.

Alonso completed 36 laps of the course with a best of 221.634mph coming on his 26th tour. That is a 40.6074sec lap of the iconic 2.5-mile oval.

Oriol Servia completed a Spanish 1-2 driving the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda, his best being a 220.759mph from 33 laps.

Ed Jones, IndyCar’s only full-time rookie in the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series, was third fastest for Dale Coyne Racing-Honda with a 219.288mph lap, while veteran Jay Howard was fourth in the third Schmidt Peterson Motorsports entry.

Debutant IndyCar team Juncos Racing saw one of its drivers, Sebastian Saavedra clock 216.598 in the Chevrolet-powered #17 entry, and he soon completed the three phases of his refresher program.

Andretti Autosport’s sixth entry, driven by two-time Indy Lights championship runner-up Jack Harvey, was sixth quickest on 214.353.

Zach Veach, driving the third AJ Foyt Racing entry, made only a warm-up run before the session ended.
Click to expand...

Source
 
Last edited:
Indy 500: Marco Andretti tops Day 1, Alonso inside Top 20

Marco Andretti topped the lap speeds in opening practice for next week’s 101st Indianapolis 500, as rookie Andretti Autosport-Honda teammate Fernando Alonso had a drama-free run to 19th.

Andretti’s Andretti Autosport-Honda posted a 226.338mph lap on the 31st of his 47 laps, to grab top spot by over 1mph, ahead of Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda ace Scott Dixon, who also set the fastest speed without the aid of a tow from another car.

Top Chevrolet speed went to local hero Ed Carpenter, who earned third place with a 224.969mph, ahead of a trio of Hondas – Sebastien Bourdais (Dale Coyne Racing), Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport) and Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing).

However, Rahal suffered the major problem in the second half of the session, as his engine appeared to let go with 45mins left on the clock.

Will Power was fastest of the Penske-Chevrolet runners in seventh, but it was Tony Kanaan, eighth overall, who set the fastest speed without the aid of a tow. His fastest in the draft was 223.936mph, but his fastest running alone was 223.554mph.

Mikhail Aleshin’s Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda and Takuma Sato’s Andretti car completed the top 10. Sato’s teammate and defending Indy 500 winner Alexander Rossi was 13th overall but had third fastest no-tow speed.


One of their rookie teammates, two-time Formula 1 World Champion Fernando Alonso, was 19th overall with a best overall lap of 223.025mph, on the 15th of his 20 laps. However, he was a notable absentee when the four fulltime Andretti Autosport cars were lapping in the final hour, practicing drafting and setting their fastest speeds.

He explained that this was due to rear suspension issues on his McLaren Honda Andretti entry. Alonso's fastest speed without the aid of a draft was a 219.265mph.

All entries except Buddy Lazier ran today, although Harvey did not return to the track following a shunt with two hours to go, caused by a failure in the steering.

Michael Shank, whose team is running the #50 Andretti Autosport entry for Michael Andretti, commented: "We’re not totally certain [what happened], but we’re going to find out and I hope to know in a couple of hours. Not the day we wanted to start with today, a couple of issues right away.

"The car has actually got some speed in it which is good, and the balance is pretty good. Andretti Autosport has a really good technical package around this place, so we’re going to fully investigate, we’ll work all night if we have to, and get back out there."

Gabby Chaves was slowest, having completed only six laps in the Harding-Chevrolet entry.
Click to expand...

Source
 
He explained that this was due to rear suspension issues on his McLaren Honda Andretti entry. Alonso's fastest speed without the aid of a draft was a 219.265mph.
Click to expand...

Even at the Indy 500 they can't produce a reliable car :(

Saw his fastest lap was a 40 point something yesterday and I checked out the lap record from last year was a 39 something, not bad for a rookie, but I doubt he is going to win this time round.

Does anyone else get the feeling Mclaren is fixing to make a full return to the Indy series?
 
Alonso “more prepared than most rookies,” says Marco Andretti

Marco Andretti, who topped Day 1 of practice for the 101st Indianapolis 500, said that rookie teammate Fernando Alonso will be able to deal with the steep learning curve of a first-timer at the Speedway.

Although the two-time World Champion and 32-time Formula 1 race-winner completed only 20 laps in the four hours following the Rookie and Refresher practice session, Andretti said he’s not expecting Alonso to struggle.

“I think he's more prepared than most rookies, to be honest,” said Andretti who finished second in his first Indy 500, back in 2006. “I think he's got a lot of knowledge and experience from the whole team to go off of… Probably too much information at once thrown at him!

“But he’s more prepared than me at 19, know what I mean?! Driving an F1 car, you're still at some level of understanding of dirty air and how to maneuver in and out.

“It's just that – but a little more intense.”

However, Andretti did sound a word of warning, as many drivers have, that dirty air is going to be Alonso’s biggest struggle.

“It depends where he qualifies,” he remarked. “I think if he's towards the front, the wake isn't as intense, but I've started everywhere here – front row and towards the back. Towards the back is very interesting on the start because you lift [off the throttle] and the car doesn't slow down like you're used to because your sucked along. A lot of turbulent air.

“I think that's the biggest thing. But I think as we do these group runs we can almost simulate a race [experience], with all the cars we [Andretti Autosport] have on our team – almost a fifth of the field!

“So hopefully by then Fernando will have a good enough feel. But raceday just always has a surprise for you. It just never goes like this. It's 500 miles, so it's just about sort of adapting. What I've witnessed of his career so far, I think he's all right at that!”
Andretti satisfied with his own progress

Although Andretti agreed that being fastest in the draft on the first day of practice wasn’t hugely significant, he said he was satisfied that the Andretti Autosport cars are fast.

“We were sort of trying to check the bigger setup item boxes today, the ones that take take a long time. That's why we were down for a lot of the day, and we got some good answers. We're trying to get the bigger items done now so you can start tuning mid-week and later in the week on the smaller things.

“So we need to make big changes now, which we've been doing, and we’re quite pleased with the starting car. Obviously we ran good here last year, the car felt good when I tested for Fernando and it still feels good. We need to keep it there, if not improve a bit more.”

“Speed is always good. That's the first thing you always want here because then you can really put more focus on just getting a comfortable race car, which is obviously my plan the rest of the week.

“They give points for qualifying now, so we can't just totally ignore it, but my goal is to win the race.”
Click to expand...

Source
 
Indy500 Live practice 16-05-2017

Alonso having some practice running as a group ... drafting madness! :love:
[video=youtube;vEhssKUgWbg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEhssKUgWbg[/video]
 
‘Lots of learning’ for Alonso after P24 finish

Fernando Alonso has said he learned a lot and is "very positive" following his first major run on the second day of practice for the Indianapolis 500.

After posting the fastest rookie time on Monday, Alonso returned to the oval on Tuesday and completed the most laps of any driver with 119 under his belt.

His best lap of 221.029mph placed him P24 in the standings, but he also got his first proper taste of driving in the slipstream and overtaking alongside his Andretti Autosport team-mates in heavy traffic for sustained periods.

“It was a very positive and productive day with a lot of laps and a lot of learning,” said Alonso. “[We did] some group running finally with some traffic, information that I will sleep on and be a better oval driver tomorrow.

“It felt OK, it felt as I expected.

“Obviously, here it is very important to keep close to the car in front of you to take the benefit on the next straight, so it was useful.”

Alonso also praised his team-mates for their help on his latest practice run.

He added: "“I’m on the best team for that. My teammates were amazing helping me. I knew they were taking care of me in some moments of the run, so that was good.

“It’s the first time for me, learning here and ther,e every lap when I follow them – what they do, how they attack the next corner or the next lap, how they prepare the overtaking.”

Alonso later revealed just how dedicated he is to performing well at the Indy 500.

“It’s 24 hours dedication for the last month and a half,” said Alonso. “Studying the data that the team provides me, watching a lot of videos of races from the past years.

“In the morning, I go to the simulator, in the afternoons I come here and I keep doing laps and learning.

“We didn’t put everything together because there’s no time to. We keep experimenting on the setup, experimenting on running in traffic. But I think we will arrive quite OK for qualifying and the race.”
Click to expand...

Source
 
Practice 3 live streaming on youtube
[video=youtube;P6XS6MHPAS4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6XS6MHPAS4[/video]
 
Alonso: Dealing with high winds at 220mph around Indy “tricky”


Fernando Alonso found the gusty wind conditions during day three of practice for the Indianapolis 500 “tricky”, but described the experience as productive.

The McLaren Honda Andretti driver ended the day fourth fastest with a lap of 219.533mph, compared to pacesetter Ed Carpenter’s 222.894mph, and on a day when most completed limited running he was satisfied he had put his 39 laps to good use.

“It was tricky, definitely,” said Alonso of running in the windy conditions. “The conditions today didn’t help, so [there was] very little running for the big guys, but for me any condition is still a good lesson.

“So today was about that, learning how to drive with these strong winds and how to set up the car corner-by-corner.

“Everything went according to plan. The team used those runs also to test something in the background on engine tuning, so it was a productive day.”
Practice makes perfect

Alonso also completed a series of practice pitstops during the middle of practice.

Even though he was using the practice pit-entry rather than the one that will be used for the race, Alonso believes this will further advance the learning process.

“We used the middle of the day to do some pitstop practice, not only for me but for the guys as well,” said Alonso.

“We learned a couple of things on their side and also on my side, how to approach the fast lane, the slow lane, because obviously in practice it’s OK but on race day when 33 cars will pit, there will be a lot of traffic here.”
Inundated by fans

Alonso added that he is enjoying the experience of being at Indianapolis, despite the growing fan interest in his participation.

“I’m having fun, definitely,” said Alonso. “There is a lot of support here from the fans, they get very close to us here in the pitlane, in the garage.

“It seems that everywhere I go they follow me. I think some of the other drivers are taking advantage of that. They wait [until] I go, then they go without trouble.

“That’s the way it is, I’m new here so they all need the autograph for the first time. I hope tomorrow they don’t need it for the second time.”
Click to expand...

Source





Indy 500: Carpenter tops Day 3 practice, Alonso jumps up to fourth

Ed Carpenter topped the third day of Indianapolis 500 practice, but all eyes were on Fernando Alonso as he leapt to fourth fastest late in the day.

Strong winds meant that far fewer laps were turned on Wednesday than on previous days – and speeds were slower than usual too.

Carpenter set the fastest lap of the day in his Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet with an hour remaining, lapping at 222.894mph.

He said: "I'm happy with the car, happy with the handling and I'm feeling comfortable. We knew it was going to be challenging to go out there with all the wind, but that's why I thought it would be a good idea. We could have these conditions on raceday."

Scott Dixon was second quickest for Chip Ganassi Racing, and top Honda runner, with a speed of 222.599mph – his laptime just 0.0536s down on Carpenter. JR Hildebrand was third fastest in ECR’s second entry.

McLaren Honda Andretti’s Alonso began to move up the speed charts with 40 minutes to go, a 218.375mph effort that put him seventh, eight tenths off Carpenter’s fastest lap.


He then ran again, 10 minutes later, and found another two tenths to leap up to fourth fastest at 219.533mph.

AJ Foyt Racing's trio, Conor Daly, Carlos Munoz and rookie Zach Veach grabbed fifth, seventh and eighth fastest, with Max Chilton sixth in the second-fastest Ganassi entry. Teammate Charlie Kimball was ninth and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports-Honda's one-off third car for Jay Howard was 10th.

Veach turned 46 laps, more than anyone bar the ECR duo.

Only 14 cars turned meaningful laps with Tony Kanaan, Graham Rahal, Mikhail Aleshin and James Hinchcliffe completing fewer than 10 each.
Click to expand...

Source
 
Those team names really suck, they just get longer and longer the more you read.
 
So happy he's doing well. Doesn't bode well for his F1 career I don't think, but maybe he can make it at Indy. He's got the skills, we know that.
 
[video=youtube_share;q9t-np9PNWw]https://youtu.be/q9t-np9PNWw[/video]
 
[video=youtube;FTaSF55gQg0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTaSF55gQg0[/video]
 
Fernando Alonso fourth quickest in Thursday practice for the Indy 500

Alonso replicated his performance of the previous day as he continues to build towards qualifying ahead of a bid for stage two of motorsport's triple crown, having already won the Monaco GP and eyeing a future drive at the Le Mans 24 Hours.

The Spaniard's best lap saw him post an average lap speed of 225.619 mph, as he completed the 2.5 mile oval in 39.8902 seconds. The lap was by far Alonso's fastest of the week and over a second better than he had achieved in windy conditions on Wednesday.

"We tested a couple of different trims and different setup options," Alonso said.

"The car felt quite OK from the very beginning of the morning, but then I think we did improve it during the day, so I'm quite happy.

"We worked still a lot on the race situation, keeping other guys out there and running in traffic. I think we found a good balance for traffic. I think tomorrow we will concentrate a little bit more alone on qualifying, but the priority is the race."
Click to expand...

Top-10 on Day 4

Driver / Team / Speed (mph) / Time (secs)
Jay Howard / Schmidt Peterson Motorsports / 226.744 / 39.6924
Ryan Hunter-Reay / Andretti Autosport / 225.826 / 39.8537
Marco Andretti / Andretti Autosport / 225.709 / 39.8743
Fernando Alonso / McLaren Honda Andretti / 225.619 / 39.8902
Josef Newgarden / Team Penske / 225.455 / 39.9193
Sage Karam / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / 225.185 / 39.9671
Charlie Kimball / Chip Ganassi Racing / 225.141 / 39.9750
Oriol Servia / Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing / 224.837 / 40.0290
Takumo Sato / Andretti Autosport / 224.771 / 40.0408
Sebastian Bourdais / Dale Coyne Racing / 224.725 / 40.0490
Click to expand...

Impressive.
 
Last edited:
Day 1 of Indianapolis 500 Qualifying

[video=youtube;HHF5aR6t21o]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHF5aR6t21o[/video]
 
Supersport schedule showing they will broadcast the Qualifying session
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X