The final practice session for the 2018 Indianapolis 500 was held earlier today, with A.J. Foyt Enterprises driver Tony Kanaan finishing the session as the fastest driver in his #14 Chevrolet.
The last practice session before the Indy 500 was a short one. The teams and drivers of the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series just had one hour of track-time to get any final laps in. In years past, pit stop practice was a key feature of the final day of running prior to the race. This time around, however, teams instead decided to focus on making adjustments to their setups due to the forecasted higher track temperatures for race day.
After the hour on the clock was up, it was Tony Kanaan who would finish the session as the fastest driver, setting an impressive fastest lap of 227.791-mph; a full 2-mph faster than second-placed Scott Dixon in the #9 for Chip Ganassi Racing. Dixon managed to run a 225.684-mph average lap.
Marco Andretti once again featured near the top of the table for Andretti Autosport. The #98 Honda driver has shown good speed throughout all of the practice sessions, which he will be hoping is a good sign heading into race day; where he will start in twelfth.
Sebastien Bourdais was fourth fastest for Dale Coyne Racing, just ahead of Carlin‘s Charlie Kimball. Charlie, in particular, has been in the top ten numerous times over the course of the eight practice days, a good sign for the British team in their first Indy 500 appearance.
Reigning Indianapolis 500 champion, Takuma Sato, was sixth fastest for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, with the team hoping that their final practice session continued to help them in the search for speed at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Will Power was just behind in seventh place for Team Penske.
Danica Patrick finished the final day of practice in eighth place in her #13 GoDaddy Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet. However, it wasn’t a smooth hour of running for Danica. Whereas other drivers in the session were completing over and above forty-laps of running, Danica was limited to just fifteenth laps – the least of any driver – after her team discovered an issue with the ECU on her car.
Patrick’s team-mate, Spencer Pigot was ninth fastest in the session, with Ed Jones completing the top ten in the #10 Ganassi Honda. Scuderia Corsa‘s Oriol Servia and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing‘s Sage Karam were just outside the top ten.
The pole-sitter for the race on Sunday, Ed Carpenter finished the hour in fourteenth place, just ahead of reigning IndyCar series champion Josef Newgarden. Simon Pagenaud, who will start second, was further back today in twentieth place.
Robert Wickens bounced back from his crash on Monday to complete thirty laps in his #6 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda. He would finish as the twenty-eighth fastest driver. Further back, Alexander Rossi was all the way down in thirty-second place, which is where he will start in Sunday’s race. He will be hoping that today’s finish is not a sign of how he is going to do, as he aims to charge through the field to take a strong result.
With all of the practice sessions now behind us, the next time the cars will be on track and Indianapolis Motor Speedway will be on the formation laps for the 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday. Before the race, be sure to check out our preview to get caught up on everything you need to know ahead of the green flag.
Credit: James Black / Courtesy of IndyCar
2018 Verizon IndyCar Series – Indianapolis 500 – Final practice top twelve:
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Full results of final practice can be found by clicking the following link: http://www.imscdn.com/INDYCAR/Documents/5325/2018-05-25/indycar-results-pf.pdf
