INDIANAPOLIS – Despite some impressive group running in the final session, Wednesday’s first day of a two-day Indy 500 Open Test was stopped 30 minutes earlier because of a track issue on the pit exit lane at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
At least three different incidents were caused by a slick surface on the lane that leads cars off pit road below the apron in turn one and the south chute before cars enter the track on Turn 2.
The first incident came on the installation lap when 100th Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi inexplicably spun out before even getting up to speed.
Later in the final session, defending and four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves lost control leaving the pit entry lane and crashed hard into turn two in his No. 06 Honda. Castroneves’s crash was at 5:11 p.m. Eastern Time.
“I didn’t do anything strange; I wasn’t even pushing, and the car just spun out,” Castroneves said. “It was a very odd situation unfortunately. It was very strange. The temperatures are a little cooler, but I’ve run in colder conditions than that.
“I wasn’t even pushing. I wasn’t even trying. The car felt good. My reaction was, ‘What happened?’ I wasn’t trying anything different. It’s just strange what happened.
“The good, good, good news is we have time to fix this car. This car is the car that was my winning car here last year and we are going to fix it and get it back on the track for Thursday.”
Green flag conditions resumed after that incident was cleared before another crash was triggered when 2018 Indianapolis 500 winner Will Power’s No. 12 Chevrolet lost control in the pit lane and slid onto the track. Colton Herta’s Honda was bearing down through turn one and the Andretti Autosport driver had to take evasive measures to avoid Power’s Chevrolet.
Herta spun through the south short chute, as Chip Ganassi Racing driver Marcus Ericsson barely missed Herta’s Honda. That crash happened at 5:32 p.m.
Herta’s Honda sustained rear damage and was brought back to Gasoline Alley on the back of a flatbed truck.
“I was in second gear and had already done a lap, so I had rear tire temp, I thought,” Power said. “It scared the absolute daylights out of me. The situation when you come up on a track and there is a pack of cars coming at those speeds, I feel terrible for Colton because he crashed because of my spin, but I had zero warning. It was just a bad situation and I want to know what I did wrong and make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“It felt like water there. I’ve been out of pit lane hundreds of times, and it has never felt like that before.”
With three incidents all happening on the same area of the race course, IndyCar Race Director Kyle Novak and later, IndyCar President Jay Frye inspected that portion to determine the cause of the issue.
The track was sealed in 2018, but the pit exit lane was sealed over the winter. Although there are no issues with the actual track surface, the entry and exit lanes are a source of concern for IMS and IndyCar officials.
The session was flagged at 6 p.m. Thirty minutes later, IndyCar officials announced, “Indianapolis Motor Speedway, IndyCar and Firestone are working together to evaluate the track surface to evaluate the warm-up lanes in turn one and turn two.”
Chip Ganassi Racing driver and 2008 Indianapolis 500 winning driver Scott Dixon was the fastest driver in the two-day test session. He ran a fast lap of 227.187 miles per hour in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda.
“I think the conditions are always pretty ideal when you run this time of year,” Dixon said. “The car feels really good. A lot of it depends on track placement and how much confidence you have in the car, how big a toe you can get. I guess we lucked out on that today.
“We still have a bit of a test left. We didn’t get through too much of it because how the session was kind of fragmented, then obviously finishing early. Still a lot of work to do I think for tomorrow. Maybe we’ll get a bit of a time extension tomorrow depending on conditions.
“All in all, I think all the drivers were really confident with how the day went and how the cars felt. But I think that’s maybe across the board because of conditions.”
Conor Daly’s No. 20 Chevrolet for Ed Carpenter Racing was second at 226.985 mph. British rookie driver Callum Ilott was third at 226.308 mph in the No. 77 Juncos Chevrolet. Santino Ferrucci’s Dreyer & Reinbold Chevrolet was fourth at 226.182 mph with Ericsson’s Huski Chocolate Chip Ganassi Racing Honda fifth at 225.341 mph.
Rossi, who started the spinning earlier in the day, finished sixth at 225.212 mph in the No. 27 NAPA Auto Parts Honda.
This is the first day of a two-day test session for the May 29, 106th Indianapolis 500.
Thursday’s schedule calls for track action from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET, weather permitting.