Carpenter Fastest As Windy Indy Limits 500 Practice

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana- High gusts of wind severely limited practice for the 101st Running of the Indianapolis 500 as only 21 cars turned laps during Wednesday’s practice session.

Ed Carpenter Racing was the quickest team of the day with Ed Carpenter leading with a fastest lap of 222.894 mph in his No. 20 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka Chevrolet. JR Hildebrand’s No. 21 Preferred Freezer Service Chevrolet was third fastest at 220.553 mph.

Scott Dixon’s Chip Ganassi Racing Honda split the duo with a lap of 222.599 mph.

The fastest rookie was fourth fastest Fernando Alonso with a fastest lap of 219.533 mph. He turned 39 laps, bringing his monthly total to 321 laps and his monthly mileage total to 802.5 miles, almost the driving distance from Los Angeles, California to El Paso, Texas.

The fifth fastest driver was Conor Daly, followed by Max Chilton, Carlos Munoz, rookie Zach Veach, Charlie Kimball and Jay Howard completing the top ten. Most drivers did a lot of pit stop in and out practice runs which inflated the lap totals completed a bit.

Only 408 laps were turned by the drivers that went out for a total mileage of 1,020 miles, or just slightly less than the driving distance from Houston to Indianapolis. Hildebrand turned the most laps with 54, Carpenter was right behind him with 52 laps completed.