Indianapolis, IN – during the Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. (Photo by Joe Skibinski | IMS Photo)
Drivers were only on track for a few minutes before the weather changed. Photo: IndyCar – Joe Skibinski
The first day of practice for the Indianapolis 500 began on Tuesday morning, marking the start of four intense days of scheduled practice before qualifying on Saturday and Sunday.
Although practice started shortly after 9:00 am, it was quickly interrupted due to fog in the air, resulting in the yellow flag being displayed.
The fog gradually turned into rain and, despite IndyCar eliminating the planned lunch break, it seems that the rest of the day’s activities will be completely canceled.
During the approximately 23 minutes of available practice time, 29 drivers completed a total of 219 laps on the 2.5-mile oval. Five drivers did not even have the opportunity to complete a single installation lap.
To understand the amount of lost practice time, if the planned eight hours of track time were available, a single driver could potentially have completed up to 150 laps on the first day of practice.
Scott Dixon set the fastest lap time during the limited window, completing a lap in 39.2829 seconds at 229.107 MPH in his Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
He was followed by experienced drivers Marco Andretti and Takuma Sato, who reached speeds of 228.399 MPH and 225.551 MPH, respectively.
These faster times on the leaderboard do not necessarily indicate which drivers had the fastest pace, but rather which teams had their cars fully prepared for the start of the session, which ended up being the only track time available.
The shortened day had a significant impact across the paddock, as the two open test days held last month were also heavily affected by rain.
The forecast for Wednesday looks a bit more promising, although there is still a 50% chance of light rain throughout the day. The amount of practice that can take place will largely depend on how effectively the IMS team can dry the track between showers.
If weather permits, the second day of practice will start at noon tomorrow and continue until 6:00 in the evening.
