Scott Dixon Fastest in Second Day of Indy 500 Practice

Chip Ganassi Racing‘s Scott Dixon topped the speed charts on the second day of Indianapolis 500 practice, with his tow-assisted speed of 226.829 mph holding at the top for nearly two hours to the end of the session. It’s known that team owner Chip Ganassi likes winners, and all four of his cars found their way into the top ten by the checkered flag.

The session was delayed by fifteen minutes so that Top Gun Racing‘s RC Enerson could finish his rookie orientation program, which he completed successfully. When the session went green, Dixon’s teammate Marcus Ericsson led the early stages, sitting at the top for the first four hours of the day as teams ran various programs. The Swede also held the lead through a small rain delay for sprinkles in turns three and four a little over two hours into the session.

Ericsson was finally bested by the Ed Carpenter Racing duo of Conor Daly and Ed Carpenter with just under two hours left in the practice session, and they were then bested by Dixon who took that speed to the finish. Daly and Carpenter finished second and third in another strong day for ECR, with their third driver Rinus Veekay just outside the top ten in eleventh, while Ericsson finished fourth.

Tony Kanaan makes his return to the car normally driven by Jimmie Johnson, finishing the second day of practice in fifth as he looks to win his second Indianapolis 500 after drinking the milk in 2013.

After his right rear wheel caught fire towards the end of yesterday’s practice session, Sebastien Bourdais and the A.J. Foyt Enterprises team rebounded for a sixth place finish today. All three of his Foyt teammates placed twenty-fifth or worse, showing just how much the four-time Champ Car champion has elevated that program.

Patricio O’Ward, winner of the 2021 Xpel 375, came home seventh fastest for Arrow McLaren SP. After showing consistent pace at Indy in the April test, O’Ward continues to improve and excite IndyCar fans everywhere.

Alex Palou was the slowest of the Ganassi cars in eighth, but having all four cars inside the top ten just goes to show how much speed Ganassi has. Palou qualified seventh last year as a part of Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh, and is showing that same kind of pace early in testing.

The last two spots of the top ten belong to the city of Nazareth, Pennsylvania, with Dreyer and Reinbold Racing‘s Sage Karam ninth and Marco Andretti tenth. Karam follows up a shock fourth place finish on day one with another top ten finish, the best speed of any part time or Indy 500-only team in the field. Andretti felt that his team still had work to be done, but a top ten car is a great starting point.

Practice will continue tomorrow, 20 May, at 1200 EST / 1700 BST.

2021 Indianapolis 500 Practice Day 2 Results

RANK	CAR NO.	DRIVER	NAT	TEAM	LAP SPEED (MPH)
1	9	Scott Dixon	NZL	Chip Ganassi Racing	226.829
2	47	Conor Daly	USA	Ed Carpenter Racing	226.372
3	20	Ed Carpenter	USA	Ed Carpenter Racing	226.103
4	8	Marcus Ericsson	SWE	Chip Ganassi Racing	226.007
5	48	Tony Kanaan	BRA	Chip Ganassi Racing	225.774
6	14	Sebastien Bourdais	FRA	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	225.491
7	5	Pato O’Ward	MEX	Arrow McLaren SP	225.409
8	10	Alex Palou	ESP	Chip Ganassi Racing	225.302
9	24	Sage Karam	USA	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	225.300
10	98	Marco Andretti	USA	Andretti Herta-Haupert w/ Marco & Curb-Agajanian	225.018
11	21	Rinus VeeKay	NED	Ed Carpenter Racing	224.993
12	27	Alexander Rossi	USA	Andretti Autosport	224.988
13	6	Helio Castroneves	BRA	Meyer Shank Racing	224.875
14	15	Graham Rahal	USA	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	224.813
15	12	Will Power	AUS	Team Penske	224.785
16	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	USA	Andretti Autosport	224.781
17	3	Scott McLaughlin (R)	NZL	Team Penske	224.352
18	26	Colton Herta	USA	Andretti Autosport	224.315
19	60	Jack Harvey	GBR	Meyer Shank Racing	224.236
20	30	Takuma Sato	JPN	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	224.057
21	18	Ed Jones	UAE	Dale Coyne Racing w/ Vasser-Sullivan	223.846
22	7	Felix Rosenqvist	SWE	Arrow McLaren SP	223.779
23	86	Juan Pablo Montoya	COL	Arrow McLaren SP	223.549
24	16	Simona De Silvestro	SUI	Paretta Autosport	223.545
25	1	JR Hildebrand	USA	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	223.523
26	59	Max Chilton	GBR	Carlin	223.190
27	25	Stefan Wilson	GBR	Andretti Autosport	223.046
28	22	Simon Pagenaud	FRA	Team Penske	222.983
29	51	Pietro Fittipaldi	BRA	Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing	222.596
30	2	Josef Newgarden	USA	Team Penske	222.544
31	4	Dalton Kellett	CAN	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	222.496
32	29	James Hinchcliffe	CAN	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport	222.130
33	11	Charlie Kimball	USA	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	221.244
34	45	Santino Ferrucci	USA	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	219.088
35	75	RC Enerson	USA	Top Gun Racing	No Speed