Conor Daly made his intentions for the upcoming month of May clear by setting the fastest time during the opening day of the open test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Dreyer & Reinbold Racing driver was nearly 0.2 mph quicker on the 2.5-mile oval than Helio Castroneves in second place, while Takuma Sato posted the third-fastest time. Rinus VeeKay recorded the 19th-fastest time of the day.

After the teams had worked all winter on their cars for the Indy 500, this was the first opportunity to test them on track.

Josef Newgarden quick right away

The day began with a two-hour session for veterans who had driven on an oval since last year’s Indy 500. The session was mainly focused on completing shakedown runs, although quick lap times were also posted near the end of the session. Josef Newgarden set the fastest time with an average speed of 223.415 mph, putting him just ahead of Takuma Sato and Pato O’Ward.

The opening portion of practice had to be stopped several times for track inspections. In part, this was due to Monday’s rainfall, which caused water to be drawn from the asphalt in some areas. The most unusual yellow flag of the day came after Romain Grosjean struck a bird. The bird did not survive the impact, while the Dale Coyne Racing crew had to give the No. 18 car a thorough cleaning.

Only Katherine Legge unable to complete Rookie/Refresher Test

The first test day was also immediately used to help rookies and veterans who had not driven an IndyCar on an oval since last year’s Indy 500 get back up to speed. For most drivers, this caused no issues, with Jack Harvey posting the fastest time ahead of Helio Castroneves and Jacob Abel.

The biggest problems, however, were for Katherine Legge, who was limited to only a few installation laps because of clutch issues. Because the Brit was unable to complete the refresher program, she was not allowed to participate for the remainder of the test day.

Conor Daly sets fastest time at end of practice

The final four hours of the test day were open to the full field, with the exception of Legge. Conor Daly held the top spot for the first few hours, before Will Power went slightly quicker with two hours remaining. With an average speed of 223.151 mph, the Andretti Global driver was still slower than Newgarden’s fastest time from the opening session.

Practice was completed without major incidents, but several drivers still encountered issues. Sting Ray Robb did not get on track until the final hour after the Juncos Hollinger Racing team discovered a problem with his Chevrolet engine and decided to change it. Grosjean also suffered a left-rear flat tire after his encounter with the bird, while Christian Rasmussen had to stop his car while exiting pit lane with half an hour remaining because of a loose right-rear wheel.

It remained fairly quiet on track for a long time, until temperatures began to drop late in the afternoon and the final hour became considerably busier. With a crowded track — and possible slipstreams — the picture at the top of the speed chart quickly changed as well. With 15 minutes to go, Takuma Sato moved ahead of Power for first place, before Helio Castroneves became the first to record a lap above 225 mph three minutes later.

Castroneves’ time would not stand, as Daly underlined his speed with seven minutes remaining by going nearly 0.2 mph faster. No one had an answer for Daly’s quick lap afterward, allowing the American to finish the day on top.

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