IndyCar: Will Power tops first 2019 Indianapolis 500 practice session

Will Power opened up the week of practice for the 2019 IndyCar season’s sixth race, the Indianapolis 500, by topping the speed chart in the first practice session.

Defending Indianapolis 500 champion Will Power of Team Penske got the week of practice leading up to qualifying for the 103rd running of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing”, which is the sixth of 17 races on the 2019 IndyCar schedule, off to a great start by topping the speed chart in the week’s opening practice session at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Power topped the speed chart in this practice session by recording a top lap time of 39.1738 seconds (229.745 miles per hour) around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Speedway, Indiana in his #12 Chevrolet.

Power led a top two Team Penske sweep and a top four Chevrolet sweep, which included three Team Penske drivers, of the speed chart in this practice session.

Team Penske teammates Simon Pagenaud and Helio Castroneves finished in second and fourth place in their #22 Chevrolet and #3 Chevrolet, respectively, while defending Indy 500 polesitter Ed Carpenter of Ed Carpenter Racing finished in third in his #20 Chevrolet.

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Harding Steinbrenner Racing rookie Colton Herta was the highest finishing Honda driver in this practice session. He finished in fifth place in his #88 Honda ahead of four Honda drivers, including three Andretti Autosport drivers.

Dale Coyne Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais and Andretti Autosport teammates Zach Veach, Alexander Rossi and Marco Andretti (Andretti Herta Autosport) rounded out the top nine on the speed chart in this practice session by finishing in sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth place in their #18 Honda, #26 Honda, #27 Honda and #98 Honda, respectively.

Ed Carpenter Racing teammates Ed Jones (Ed Carpenter Racing Scuderia Corsa) and Spencer Pigot finished in 10th and 11th place in their #63 Chevrolet and #21 Chevrolet, respectively. The highest finishing non-Team Penske and non-Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet driver in this practice session was Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s J.R. Hildebrand, who finished in 15th in his #48 Chevrolet.

Of the 36 drivers who are on the entry list for this year’s Indy 500, 35 completed at least one lap during this practice session, as Carlin rookie Patricio O’Ward did not do so. However, a total of 39 positions were occupied on the speed chart in this session.

This is the case because of the fact that Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’ James Hinchcliffe completed laps driving not only his #5 Honda but the #7 Honda of rookie teammate Marcus Ericsson, the #77 Honda of teammate Oriol Servia (Team Stange Racing with Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports), and the #60 Honda of partial teammate Jack Harvey of Meyer Shank Racing.

Additionally, Carlin’s Max Chilton completed laps driving not only his #59 Chevrolet but the #31 Chevrolet of O’Ward.

Here are the full practice results of the opening practice session for the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Practice Results
1st – Will Power
2nd – Simon Pagenaud
3rd – Ed Carpenter
4th – Helio Castroneves
5th – Colton Herta
6th – Sebastien Bourdais
7th – Zach Veach
8th – Alexander Rossi
9th – Marco Andretti
10th – Ed Jones
11th – Spencer Pigot
12th – Ryan Hunter-Reay
13th – Scott Dixon
14th – Takuma Sato
15th – J.R. Hildebrand
16th – Santino Ferrucci
17th – Josef Newgarden
18th – Felix Rosenqvist
19th – Conor Daly
20th – Graham Rahal
21st – Kyle Kaiser
22nd – Charlie Kimball
23rd – James Hinchcliffe
24th – Tony Kanaan
25th – James Hinchcliffe
26th – Jack Harvey
27th – Max Chilton
28th – James Hinchcliffe
29th – Marcus Ericsson
30th – Sage Karam
31st – Matheus Leist
32nd – Fernando Alonso
33rd – Jordan King
34th – Pippa Mann
35th – Max Chilton
36th – James Davison
37th – Oriol Servia
38th – Ben Hanley
39th – James Hinchcliffe

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The next practice session for the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 is scheduled to begin tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. ET, and it is scheduled to last until 6:00 p.m. ET. NBC Sports Gold is set to broadcast this session live from Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and you can follow along live on IndyCar RaceControl.