But even after turning Up the Boost, did we really
learn Anything?
Have to say I’ve Never been enamoured by thou
Gimmickry of Turnin’ Up the Boost for Qualifying, solely to inflate the lap
speeds, presumably to get everybody excited, Err Pump You Up! Talking about the
upcoming race and how fast they’re going, even though they Dial Down the Boost
afterwards in order for them to be able to race 500 miles, but I digress…
“Fast Friday,” Practice 4: Fryday, May 21st
The “Mercury” kept rising, to a fairly toasty 83deg-f,
according to my Accuweather.com information when I began typing this at 1:26PM
Pacific. With a predicted High of 84 that felt like 87 with a low of 62deg-f,
four degrees warmer then our forecasted High for Florence, Oregon, but I
digress further…
Thus I was surprised when reading after lunch the
daily Mid-day report via Racer.com, since I Don’t have that Cursed Peacock
Paywall service! That Ed Jones and his Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan’s
#18 Dallara-Honda was sitting Atop the Pylon in P1 with a speed of 231.569mph!
Which Jones had posted with a helpful Tow before the track & ambient temperatures
rose.
RLLR’s Takuma Sato was second, followed by
Scott Dixon, CGR team-mate Alex Palou and Alexander Rossi, a welcome site for
the Andretti Autosport driver. While AMSP’s Pato O’Ward was the top bowtie runner
in P6 at 231.014mph, with All six of these racers posting 231mph+ laps due to
their extra 90bhp of Turbo boost.
RLLR Driver Santino Ferrucci was cleard to
drive and returned to the track at 2PM ET, while Top Gun Racing’s R.C. Enerson
attempted two Qualie’ Sims but was still slowest in P35 at 224.736mph.
Yet by day’s end, it was a thou Cheepster’s
Four Musketeers Hogging the Top 5 positions, only interrupted by Andretti
Autosport’s Colton Herta P2. As Scott Dixon was fastest with a lap of
233.302mph, with CGR team-mates Tony Kanaan 3rd, Marcus Ericsson 4th
and Alex Palou P5. With Pato O’Ward remaining the quickest Chevy in P6.
The rest of the Top 10 was Alexander Rossi,
Takuma Sato, Ed Jones and Ryan Hunter-Reay in P10, his first time in the Top 10
of the Time Sheets.
Rinus VeeKay led the way for ECR in 12th,
with Ed Carpenter 15th and Conor Daly P19.
Others making noticeable jumps up the Time Sheets
were Andretti Autosport’s “Sixth Wheel” Stefan Wilson in 13th, along
with James Hinchcliffe in P17 and Pietro Fittipaldi a practice high 18th.
While Carlin’s Max Chilton was P23, splitting the top two Penskes!
No idea what Team Penske was up to? Since Josef
Newgarden was their quickest HotShue’ in 22nd. Scott McLaughlin was 24th
and Power and Pagenaud were P29-30, Huh?
As the Slowest 10 Drivers (P26-35) were: Marco
Andretti, Dalton Kellett, J.R. Hildebrand, Will Power, Simon Pagenaud, Sage
Karam, Simona de Silvestro, Sebastien Bourdais, Charlie Kimball and R.C. Enerson.
As Enerson’s fastest lap was 226.055mph,
jumping nearly 2mph from earlier runs, but was still over 2mph Slower than
Kimball in P34. As time appears to be running out on the Top gun Racing effort.
Notes
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing was penalized
from running the first 30mins of Fast Friday due to the Kerfuffle they caused
when trying to stage Thar three abreast Photo Op’ on Thursday, and therefore
couldn’t begin practice until 12:30PM ET Friday.
Practice 3: Thursday, 5/20
The day got off to a Bizarre start when the
three Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLLR) Boyz’ were running three abreast at
reduced speed down the front Straightaway for a Photo Op’ crossing the Yard ‘O
Bricks. As Simona de Silvestro and Scott McLaughlin dually slowed down, Colton
Herta came round Turn 4 at Full speed and ended up colliding with McLaughlin and
brushing the Wall when trying to go High round the Kiwi Rookie! As both cars
were taken back to Gasoline Alley for Inspection/repairs, costing them an hour’s-plus
time of practice!
At the Halfway point it was a Chip Ganassi
Racing Freight-train holding positions 1-4
with Scott Dixon on point at 224.666mph. Followed by Marcus Ericsson,
Tony Kanaan and Alex Palou, with Team Penske’s McLaughlin shaking off his earlier
encounter with Herta to be P5.
At Day’s end it was Kanaan in P1 with a lap of
225.341mph followed by Conor Daly. With an unexpected Santino Ferrucci ahead of
Josef Newgarden andScott Dixon rounding out the Top 5. Whilst Rinus VeeKay
nipped at Thar Heels in P6.
Jumping into the Top 10 for the first time this week was Meyer Shank Racing’s Helio
Castroneves in 7th and Takuma Sato in 9th. Colton Herta was
Andretti Autosport’s fastest runner in P10, with next best being Ryan Hunter-Reay in 12th.
Pato O’Ward still led the way for Arrow McLaren
SP, but slid down to P14, one place ahead of Will Power, the third slowest of the
four Team Penske cars with McLaughlin 13th and Simon Pagenaud 23rd.
Matching his car number for the day was Ed
Carpenter in 20th, followed by Alexander Rossi and Juan Pablo Montoya P21-22
respectively.
The Slowest 10 runners (P26-35) were: Graham Rahal,
Pietro fittipaldi, Sage Karam, Charlie Kimball, J.R. Hildebrand, Simona de Silvestro,
James Hinchcliffe, Max Chilton, Sebastien Bourdais and R.C. Enerson. As Enerson’s
lap was 217.444mph, nearly 2mph slower than Bourdais’s unexpected “Basement
Dweller” speed.
Notes
Top Gun Racing finally returned to Pitlane some
80mins into practice with R.C. Enerson running a total of just 50 laps before ultimately
ending up 35th and slowest at 217.444mph set in the early afternoon.
Santino Ferrucci became the first driver to Crash during the Month of May just after setting his quickest lap of the day, then P2! When backing Hard into the Wall at 4:14PM ET with heavy damage to the left Rear corner. Ferrucci was taken to Hospital for further evaluation to his left leg, but was expected to return on Friday.