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Andretti Leads Honda Near Sweep of Top Speeds on “Fast Friday” at Indianapolis

  • Marco Andretti quickest in final full practice day prior to Indianapolis 500 qualifying
  • Honda drivers claim nine of top ten lap speeds in “Fast Friday” session
  • Qualifying for 104th Indianapolis 500 begins Saturday

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (August 14, 2020) – The final full day of practice prior to qualifying action this weekend saw Honda drivers claim nine of the top-ten speeds in “Fast Friday” action at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with Marco Andretti leading the field with a best lap of 233.491 mph.

The combination of cool morning temperatures and increased turbocharger boost for qualifying resulted in a dramatic increase in speeds, with 22 of the 33 drivers topping 230 mph during the day.  Scott Dixon made an impressive late-afternoon qualifying simulation run to vault to third on overall speed and second in the “no tow” list of single-car runs.

Heading the “no tow” list was Ryan Hunter-Reay, who also posted the fourth-fastest overall speed, 232.124 mph, a lap during a simulated qualifying run in the cooler late-morning temperatures.  Spencer Pigot rounded out the top five for Honda, while Alex Palou was once again the quickest rookie, and sixth fastest overall.

Behind the top six, Honda drivers also claimed the seventh through 10th overall positions as well. James Hinchcliffe ended the day seventh, followed by Takuma Sato, Alexander Rossi and Marcus Ericsson.  On the “no tow” speed chart, the fastest six today included Hunter-Ray, Dixon, Rossi, Andretti, Ericsson and Hinchcliffe.

Honda Racing social media content and videos from practice and qualifying from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is available on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD) and on Twitter at (https://twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD).  Produced by the CoForce Digital Media, YouTube video packages can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV.  

Next

Qualifying, to set the 33-car starting field for the August 23 Indianapolis 500, will take place tomorrow and Sunday, with live television coverage on NBC at 3 p.m. EDT Saturday and 1 p.m. EDT Sunday.  Coverage on the NBC Sport Gold app begins at 11 a.m. EDT on Saturday, and 10 a.m. EDT Sunday.

Quotes

Marco Andretti (Andretti Autosport Honda) Fastest in practice today: “Fast Friday was good, especially with the top speed of the day, thanks to a great effort from Honda and the whole U.S. Concrete/Curb team. We seem to be looking good on ‘no-tow’ speeds as well [4th].  Although we still have a few things to work out. I wanted to end the day with [faster] runs than we did.  But we just need to nail tomorrow and the #98 car has enough speed for the Fast Nine [to be eligible for Sunday’s pole qualifying session].” 

Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) Third fastest today: “I hope things keep going in this direction. I’m always proud to be powered by Honda and HPD, and hope this is some indication that we have the upper hand on power this year. It’s always tough here at Indy, and the race is obviously where it counts. The PNC Bank car is good right now and we’re trying to get some more balance, so that’s kind of where we’re at. We were second or third most the day on the no-tow speed report for outright speed, so we hope that ends up holding true.”