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Fansided

Ed Carpenter Tops Third Indianapolis 500 Practice Session

By Asher Fair

May 15, 2017; Speedway, IN, USA; Verizon IndyCar Series driver Ed Carpenter (20) drives through turn three during practice for the 101st Running of the Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
May 15, 2017; Speedway, IN, USA; Verizon IndyCar Series driver Ed Carpenter (20) drives through turn three during practice for the 101st Running of the Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports /
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May 15, 2017; Speedway, IN, USA; Verizon IndyCar Series driver Ed Carpenter (20) drives through turn three during practice for the 101st Running of the Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
May 15, 2017; Speedway, IN, USA; Verizon IndyCar Series driver Ed Carpenter (20) drives through turn three during practice for the 101st Running of the Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports /

The 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season is in its sixth race with the Indianapolis 500. Who looks solid early on after the third practice session?

Ed Carpenter Racing’s Ed Carpenter topped the third practice session for the Indianapolis 500 with a top lap speed of 222.894 miles per hour (40.378 seconds) around the 4-turn, 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Speedway, Indiana.

While he did not post the top speed of the month, Carpenter became the second Chevrolet driver to top the speed chart in a practice session for the race. His teammate JR Hildebrand was the next fastest Chevrolet driver, finishing 3rd in the session.

The fastest Honda driver in the practice session was 2008 Indy 500 champion Scott Dixon, who finished 2nd fastest on the speed chart. Only 14 drivers turned flying laps today, and nine were Honda drivers. Only 21 drivers turned any laps today, and 14 of those were Honda drivers.

Here is the full finishing order of the third practice session. See lap speeds and times and other technical information about today’s practice session here.

Note: (R) denotes an Indianapolis 500 rookie.

  1. Ed Carpenter, #20, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet
  2. Scott Dixon, #9, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda
  3. JR Hildebrand, #21, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet
  4. Fernando Alonso (R), #29, Andretti Autosport, Honda
  5. Conor Daly, #4, AJ Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet
  6. Max Chilton, #8, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda
  7. Carlos Munoz, #14, AJ Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet
  8. Zach Veach (R), #40, AJ Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet
  9. Charlie Kimball, #83, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda
  10. Jay Howard, #77, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Honda
  11. Tony Kanaan, #10, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda
  12. Graham Rahal, #15, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda
  13. Mikhail Aleshin, #7, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Honda
  14. James Hinchcliffe, #5, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Honda
  15. Josef Newgarden, #2, Team Penske, Chevrolet
  16. Jack Harvey (R), #50, Andretti Autosport, Honda
  17. Sage Karam, #24, Dreyer and Reinbold Racing, Chevrolet
  18. Takuma Sato, #26, Andretti Autosport, Honda
  19. Alexander Rossi, #98, Andretti Herta Autosport, Honda
  20. Marco Andretti, #27, Andretti Autosport, Honda
  21. Oriol Servia, #16, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda

Schedule

The next practice session for the race is scheduled to take place tomorrow, Thursday, May 18th, 2017. It is set to last from 12:00 PM ET to 6:00 PM ET.  Qualifying for the race will take place on Saturday, May 20th, 2017 and Sunday, May 21st, 2017 and is set to last from 11:00 AM ET to 5:50 PM ET on Saturday and 2:45 PM ET to 5:45 PM ET on Sunday. The race is scheduled for Sunday, May 28th, 2017 at 12:19 PM ET. For a full pre-race and race schedule, click here.

Are these practice results any indication of what we’ll see in the Indy 500 in less than two weeks? Be sure to follow me on Instagram as well as Beyond the Flag on both Instagram and Twitter. Also, don’t forget to follow along with Beyond the Flag for the latest news, opinions, and analysis stemming from a number of different motorsports series. You don’t want to miss any of it.