By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief
James Hinchcliffe led opening day of practice on Wednesday for the 104th Running of the Indianapolis 500.
Running a partial schedule in the No. 29 Andretti Autosport Honda, the 33-year-old Canadian put down a best lap of 224.526 mph.
Day 1 is in the books, and @Hinchtown is off to a solid start.
The @FollowAndretti driver finished P1 after 80 laps in #Indy500 practice at @IMS. pic.twitter.com/nW3LwrACi1
— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) August 12, 2020
It was a collective effort by Andretti Autosport, who ended the day with three cars in the top five as Marco Andretti finished second-fasted (224.345 mph) behind teammate Hinchcliffe, with Ryan Hunter-Reay fourth (223.341 mph).
Five-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon put the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda third overall (224.047 mph). Two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso, piloting the No. 66 Arrow McLaren SP entry and vying for his second start in the Indy 500, took top Chevrolet honors in fifth (223.238 mph).
Josef Newgarden, Jack Harvey, Alex Palou, Conor Daly and Helio Castroneves rounded out the rest of the top 10.
Additionally, Castroneves held the best 15-lap run with an average pace of 221.532 mph. Alexander Rossi put down the fastest no-tow speed with a lap at 221.952 mph.
There were no incidents throughout the six-plus hours of practice.
