Fernando Alonso Tops Indianapolis 500 Pre-Qualifying Practice

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer

INDIANAPOLIS– Only six cars went out for morning practice ahead of qualifying for the 103rd Running of the Indianapolis 500 and Fernando Alonso was fastest of them all in the three-part session.

The Spaniard turned a fastest lap of 228.065 mph in his 13 laps in the No. 66 McLaren Chevrolet entry. Second quickest was Jordan King in the No. 42 Rich Energy Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

The biggest story was Kyle Kaiser in the No. 32 Juncos Racing entry. After crashing the team’s unsponsored primary car during Fast Friday, the team brought in everybody from their Road to Indy programs and rebuilt the backup car overnight. Kaiser was third fastest with a lap of 226.197 mph.

Ben Hanley, Patricio O’Ward and Max Chilton rounded out the entries that tested. Chilton’s team did a couple of installation laps so their speed of 212.974 mph is not representative of their true speed.