Oilpressure

Susan and I arrived at the track about 1:00 pm local time. When we stepped out of the car, the first thing I notice was the heat. We live in the south, but this afternoon was the most stifling heat we have experienced this spring.

The four slowest cars today were the two PREMA cars (Ilott 31st, Shwartzman 32nd), Santino Ferrucci (33rd) and Graham Rahal (34th). What continues to be baffling is that Ferrucci’s Foyt teammate, David Malukas, has been running in the Top-Ten for most of the week. Today, he was 9th quick.

The fastest speed of Day Three was Josef Newgarden, with a speed of 226.632 mph. Scott Dixon, Conor Daly, Pato O’Ward and Ryan Hunter-Reay rounded up the Top-Five. Points leader Alex Palou was 6th quick, but his car was taken back to the garages with fluid leaking from the back of the car. It turned out to be a driveshaft boot that required replacement. Palou still logged 112 laps, while Newgarden only put in 35. Scott Dixon required another engine change, which will be his fifth of the season. He will incur a grid penalty at Detroit, but not the Indianapolis 500.

Colton Herta, Christina Rasmussen, Malukas and Scott McLaughlin rounded out the Top-Ten.

Rasmussen had the only slight mishap of the day, when he barely brushed the Turn Two wall. The slight contact sent him into a dramatic spin as he scooted across the track, directly in front of Kyle Larson. No one hit Rasmussen and he was able to get his car under control without hitting anything. Rassmussen was unhurt and his car sustained very minor damage.

Don’t sleep on Conor Daly. In the post-session press-conference, he said his car this year is the best car he has ever had here. He’s pretty plain-spoken, and I don’t think he makes statements like that unless he means it. (My phone photo; not Susan’s)

Today was the first practice day not affected by rain. However, they are calling for severe storms overnight, so it will be a green race track greeting the drivers tomorrow. As I look across the front straightaway to the west, clouds are definitely rolling in. Hopefully, it will all be out of here by morning.

That’s going to do it for us for this Thursday afternoon. We still need to go check into our hotel and grab a bite to eat. We got up very early and we are going to call it an early night.

Tomorrow is Fast Friday. It should be interesting. Please check back throughout tomorrow and the weekend, as we will both be posting regularly.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on May 15, 2025 at 5:24 pm and is filed under Indianapolis 500. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.