Pato O’Ward led the way in an eventful second practice for this weekend’s GMR Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
The 23-year-old Mexican pilot wheeled the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet around 14-turn, 2.349-mile road course for 18 laps, with an outright best flying lap at 1m,09.7839s (125.823 mph). Alex Palou, who led opening practice earlier in the day, ended up second just 0.0298s behind O’Ward.
Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta came away from the 45-minute session in third, just ahead of defending race winner and driver of the No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, Rinus VeeKay in fourth. Rookie Christian Lundgaard of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing ended up fifth.
Take a ride with @FollowAndretti driver @AlexanderRossi for a lap around @IMS' road course.
The GMR Grand Prix is live Saturday at 3P ET on @NBC and @PeacockTV. pic.twitter.com/LIUX8z2rOH
— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) May 13, 2022
Romain Grosjean, Conor Daly, Felix Rosenqvist, Simon Pagenaud and Will Power rounded out the rest of the top 10.
Conditions were tricky with track temperatures hovering around 120F, which led to numerous drivers locking up or sliding off into the runoff area.
There were two red flag incidents during the session, both for issues at Turn 4. The first was brought on after Dalton Kellett’s No. 4 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet ended up off and stuck in the gravel trap with 38 minutes remaining. Then, only five minutes later, the treacherous corner caught out the No. 48 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of Jimmie Johnson, who also needed a tow out of the sandbox.
Other notables include Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon, both of whom were outside the top 15 at the conclusion of the session. Newgarden’s No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet appeared to have an apparent mechanical issue on pit road but he was able to continue, putting down a total of 12 laps before ending up 16th. Meanwhile, Dixon ran 24 laps – tying Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Palou for most in the session – and was left muddled down in 20th out of 27 cars.
Up Next: Qualifying at 4 p.m. ET, with live coverage on Peacock, IndyCar Live and the IndyCar Radio Network.
| Position | Car No. | Driver | Lap Time | Diff. | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Pato O'Ward | 1:09.7839 | 18 | |
| 2 | 10 | Alex Palou | 1:09.8137 | -0.0298 | 24 |
| 3 | 26 | Colton Herta | 1:09.8423 | -0.0584 | 18 |
| 4 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay | 1:09.9265 | -0.1426 | 19 |
| 5 | 30 | Christian Lundgaard (R) | 1:10.0002 | -0.2163 | 22 |
| 6 | 28 | Romain Grosjean | 1:10.0161 | -0.2322 | 19 |
| 7 | 20 | Conor Daly | 1:10.0395 | -0.2556 | 20 |
| 8 | 7 | Felix Rosenqvist | 1:10.0545 | -0.2706 | 18 |
| 9 | 60 | Simon Pagenaud | 1:10.0562 | -0.2723 | 20 |
| 10 | 12 | Will Power | 1:10.0632 | -0.2793 | 21 |
| 11 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin | 1:10.0794 | -0.2955 | 23 |
| 12 | 45 | Jack Harvey | 1:10.0971 | -0.3132 | 19 |
| 13 | 8 | Marcus Ericsson | 1:10.1436 | -0.3597 | 23 |
| 14 | 51 | Takuma Sato | 1:10.2080 | -0.4241 | 18 |
| 15 | 15 | Graham Rahal | 1:10.2166 | -0.4327 | 22 |
| 16 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | 1:10.2617 | -0.4778 | 12 |
| 17 | 27 | Alexander Rossi | 1:10.2692 | -0.4853 | 19 |
| 18 | 06 | Helio Castroneves | 1:10.2712 | -0.4873 | 17 |
| 19 | 77 | Callum Ilott (R) | 1:10.4747 | -0.6908 | 19 |
| 20 | 9 | Scott Dixon | 1:10.5045 | -0.7206 | 24 |
| 21 | 14 | Kyle Kirkwood (R) | 1:10.5316 | -0.7477 | 20 |
| 22 | 29 | Devlin DeFrancesco (R) | 1:10.5521 | -0.7682 | 20 |
| 23 | 18 | David Malukas (R) | 1:10.7052 | -0.9213 | 17 |
| 24 | 6 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 1:11.0173 | -1.2334 | 9 |
| 25 | 4 | Dalton Kellett | 1:11.2065 | -1.4226 | 16 |
| 26 | 11 | Tatiana Calderon (R) | 1:11.3938 | -1.6099 | 19 |
| 27 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | 1:11.6939 | -1.9100 | 22 |
