Indy 500: O’Ward quickest at 228.861mph as Ericsson, Lundqvist crash

The 25-year-old Mexican latched on to an early morning tow and hurtled around with a flying lap of 228.861mph to claim the top spot on the leaderboard.

Scott McLaughlin’s No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet, which led Wednesday’s practice, continued to showcase strong pace after a tow lap of 227.316mph put him second overall.

Reigning and two-time IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou ended up third-fastest on the day with another tow-supported run at 226.915mph for his No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

Colton Herta’s best lap of 226.828mph was good enough for fourth overall. He also claimed the best no-tow lap on the day – which came in the opening hour – as his No. 26 Andretti Global Honda nailed a best of 224.182mph.

Defending race winner Josef Newgarden was fifth on the overall speed charts after his No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet managed a tow-assisted lap of 226.684mph.

The rest of the top 10, all tow-assisted runs, were led by Marco Andretti (Andretti Herta) in sixth, followed by rookie Linus Lundqvist (Chip Ganssi Racing), Ed Carpenter (Ed Carpenter Racing), 2018 Indy 500 winner Will Power (Team Penske) and 2008 Indy 500 champion Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing).

Directly behind Herta on the no-tow list was Andretti Global team-mate Kyle Kirkwood, who was able to run a lap of 223.387mph.

Four-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves was third among single-car runs, with his No. 06 Meyer Shank Racing Honda unleashing a lap of 222.852mph.

Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) and Rinus VeeKay (Ed Carpenter Racing) were fourth and fifth, respectively, on the no-tow list.

Linus Lundqvist hits the wall

Two big wrecks

There were multiple incidents on the day, with Lundqvist the first to experience a practice crash this year at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Lundqvist ran into trouble just 90 minutes into the session after his No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, which was tailing the Arrow McLaren duo of O’Ward and Rossi, touched the inside curb of Turn 2, which thrust the rear-end of his car into the outside wall.

The momentum carried him down the backstretch, where he fortunately avoided the inside wall before coming to a stop. Lundqvist, one of seven rookies entered in the event, was able to walk away under his own power after being carefully assisted out of the car by IndyCar’s AMR Safety Team.

“I'm alright,” said Lunqvist, who ran 23 laps. “It's my mistake. I know exactly what I did; I touched the curb in (Turn) 2 and I couldn't hold onto it. Something they talk about often around this place. But it's just a mistake in my part and obviously my team has to pay the price for it, so yeah, it sucks.”

The team was able to preserve going to a backup car, instead opting to replace the rear assembly, bodywork and replace the floor.

The other incident involved 2022 Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson, who crashed with just over two hours remaining.

He was the last driver in a line of four cars when he grazed the curb in Turn 4 before taking a 180-degree spin and slapping the left side of his car into the outside wall. From there, his No. 28 Andretti Global Honda drifted across the track and nosed into the inside wall before making heavy contact with the attenuator at pit entrance.

Ericsson got out gingerly but also walked away under his own power. He logged 79 laps before the incident, with a best of 224.592mph to stand 18th overall.

“I think I brushed the curb a little bit and that's probably enough to send it,” he said. “And then you're a passenger, so yeah. Very disappointed.

“Very sorry for my team. They've done a very good job and they have a lot of work ahead of them now, so that's probably the worst of the whole thing."

Andretti Global COO Rob Edwards, who also calls strategy for Colton Herta, confirmed to Motorsport.com the damage sustained to Ericsson's crash was severe enough that the team has elected to move to a back-up car.

Kyle Larson, Arrow McLaren Chevrolet (Photo by: Josh Tons / Motorsport Images)

Frustration for Larson

NASCAR star Kyle Larson’s day began in the garage as his No. 17 Arrow McLaren-Rick Hendrick Chevrolet underwent an engine change. His car arrived on pit lane at 11:15am ET, 75 minutes after practice began.

Although Larson, the 2021 Cup Series champion, managed to get out with several hours remaining to get acclimated, he reported further issues with his car and only logged 29 laps with a best of 222.805mph in the tow to place 22nd overall.

He got back out on track again at the end of the day and recorded a decent no-tow lap of 222.554mph during a qualifying simulation.

Alexander Rossi had a couple of moments in the early portion of the day, beginning with misjudging the entry in Turn 2 and briefly catching the apron. Roughly an hour later, his No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet was squeezed next to the pit wall on the inside of the front straight while attempting a pass on the No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet of Romain Grosjean.

There was a brief spell of green flag running after Ericsson’s crash and the extended caution to repair the attenuator. However, the rain persisted as the caution came out once again with 90 minutes remaining in the session.

It dried sufficiently for running to resume with 25 minutes on the clock, only for Conor Daly to bring out a yellow when he coasted to the pits with a smoking right-front corner on his Dreyer & Reinbold entry.

More rain sprinkles ended the day with 10 minutes to go.

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information
Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph
1	P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren	5	56	39.3252		228.861
2	S. McLaughlin Team Penske	3	73	+0.2673 39.5925	0.2673	227.316
3	A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing	10	41	+0.3372 39.6624	0.0699	226.915
4	C. Herta Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian	26	83	+0.3524 39.6776	0.0152	226.828
5	J. Newgarden Team Penske	2	71	+0.3777 39.7029	0.0253	226.684
6	M. Andretti Andretti Herta Autosport with Marco & Curb-Agajani	98	48	+0.4005 39.7257	0.0228	226.554
7	L. Lundqvist Chip Ganassi Racing	8	23	+0.4519 39.7771	0.0514	226.261
8	E. Carpenter Ed Carpenter Racing	20	55	+0.4776 39.8028	0.0257	226.115
9	W. Power Team Penske	12	70	+0.5552 39.8804	0.0776	225.675
10	S. Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing	9	53	+0.5620 39.8872	0.0068	225.636
11	C. Daly Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports	24	86	+0.5662 39.8914	0.0042	225.613
12	C. Ilott Arrow McLaren	6	59	+0.6521 39.9773	0.0859	225.128
13	H. Castroneves Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian	06	81	+0.6648 39.9900	0.0127	225.056
14	R. Hunter-Reay Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports	23	40	+0.6852 40.0104	0.0204	224.942
15	M. Armstrong Chip Ganassi Racing	11	67	+0.7144 40.0396	0.0292	224.777
16	R. Grosjean Juncos Hollinger Racing	77	77	+0.7416 40.0668	0.0272	224.625
17	A. Rossi Arrow McLaren	7	61	+0.7424 40.0676	0.0008	224.620
18	M. Ericsson Andretti Global	28	79	+0.7475 40.0727	0.0051	224.592
19	F. Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing	60	84	+0.8154 40.1406	0.0679	224.212
20	K. Kirkwood Andretti Global	27	30	+0.8210 40.1462	0.0056	224.181
21	R. van Kalmthout Ed Carpenter Racing	21	44	+0.8365 40.1617	0.0155	224.094
22	S. Ferrucci A.J. Foyt Enterprises	14	49	+0.9526 40.2778	0.1161	223.448
23	T. Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	75	54	+0.9550 40.2802	0.0024	223.435
24	K. Legge Dale Coyne Racing	51	56	+0.9608 40.2860	0.0058	223.403
25	K. Larson Arrow McLaren/Rick Hendrick	17	29	+1.0689 40.3941	0.1081	222.805
26	A. Canapino Juncos Hollinger Racing	78	53	+1.0727 40.3979	0.0038	222.784
27	G. Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	15	33	+1.0935 40.4187	0.0208	222.669
28	K. Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing	4	43	+1.1312 40.4564	0.0377	222.462
29	T. Blomqvist Meyer Shank Racing	66	85	+1.1480 40.4732	0.0168	222.369
30	C. Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	45	42	+1.2042 40.5294	0.0562	222.061
31	P. Fittipaldi Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	30	44	+1.2292 40.5544	0.0250	221.924
32	C. Rasmussen Ed Carpenter Racing	33	42	+1.2405 40.5657	0.0113	221.862
33	N. Siegel Dale Coyne Racing	18	72	+1.4164 40.7416	0.1759	220.904
34	R. Robb A.J. Foyt Enterprises	41	14	+1.5857 40.9109	0.1693	219.990
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