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Tony Kanaan soars to top of Carb Day charts as Herta literally soars

Carb Day serves as the final practice session for the NTT IndyCar Series field before Sunday’s Indianapolis 500, though it was a session to forget for Colton Herta and David Malukas as both were involved in wrecks. For Herta, the only practice he got was being an aeroplane pilot as he found himself flying through the air before landing on his roof, though he walked away without injury.

The two crashes only capped off an inauspicious day that began with a rain delay, and the colder temperatures prompted Rinus VeeKay to only run eighteen laps before concluding his run. Once the weather cleared, Malukas’ day ended when he made contact with Santino Ferrucci in turn one, shooting him into the wall.

Later in the session, Herta lost control of his car and clipped the outside turn two wall, and the ensuing lift caused the vehicle to flip onto its roof before coasting down the backstretch and hitting turn three nose-first. Herta’s accident was very similar to Dan Wheldon‘s blowover in the 2003 race, with both taking off at nearly the same position and angles. Despite the scary nature, he was released from the medical centre without issue.

“Well first off I’m fine,” Herta subsequently tweeted. “More importantly we’re moving to the backup car and will be ready to race Sunday. Thank you to everyone at the medical center and of course the on track safety team.”

While Herta’s flight dominated the day’s airwaves, Chip Ganassi Racing continued its strong Month of May as Tony Kanaan, Marcus Ericsson, and 500 pole winner Scott Dixon were respectively first, second, and fourth quickest. Kanaan set a best time of 39.6277 seconds, ahead of Ericsson’s 39.6468. Fellow Ganassi driver Jimmie Johnson was the fastest rookie in seventh.

Although topping the charts is always a good day, Kanaan regarded his Carb Day as “uneventful. We went through some pit stops. We just really ran all day in traffic.

“It wasn’t much to do. We’ve been happy with the car all week, that is no secret that the cars are good.”

Takuma Sato broke up the Ganassi party by being third at 39.6757. Herta’s strongest time before his wreck was good for twentieth, while Malukas’ placed him three spots ahead.

Results

PositionNumberDriverTeamBest TimeBest Speed (mph)MarginLaps
11Tony KanaanChip Ganassi Racing39.6277227.114Leader46
28Marcus EricssonChip Ganassi Racing39.6468227.004+ .019130
351Takuma SatoDale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing39.6757226.839+ .048045
49Scott DixonChip Ganassi Racing39.7007226.696+ .073035
524Sage KaramDreyer & Reinbold Racing39.7322226.517+ .104561
612Will PowerTeam Penske39.8174226.032+ .189753
748Jimmie JohnsonChip Ganassi Racing39.8276225.974+ .199949
85Pato O’WardArrow McLaren SP39.8661225.756+ .238442
998Marco AndrettiAndretti Autosport39.8735225.714+ .245861
107Felix RosenqvistArrow McLaren SP39.8822225.665+ .254561
1120Conor DalyEd Carpenter Racing39.9028225.548+ .275145
1230Christian LundgaardRahal Letterman Lanigan Racing39.9118225.497+ .284161
133Scott McLaughlinTeam Penske39.9146225.481+ .286956
1410Álex PalouChip Ganassi Racing39.9229225.435+ .295249
1525Stefan WilsonDragonSpeed/Cusick Motorsports39.9302225.393+ .302545
166Juan Pablo MontoyaArrow McLaren SP39.9354225.364+ .307741
1718David MalukasDale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports39.9875225.070+ .359835
1806Hélio CastronevesMeyer Shank Racing40.0052224.971+ .377541
1914Kyle KirkwoodA.J. Foyt Enterprises40.0286224.839+ .400960
2026Colton HertaAndretti Autosport40.0567224.682+ .429043
2160Simon PagenaudMeyer Shank Racing40.0977224.452+ .470052
2211J.R. HildebrandA.J. Foyt Enterprises40.1302224.270+ .502540
232Josef NewgardenTeam Penske40.1492224.164+ .521562
2477Callum IlottJuncos Hollinger Racing40.1502224.158+ .522568
2527Alexander RossiAndretti Autosport40.2294223.717+ .601756
2645Jack HarveyRahal Letterman Lanigan Racing40.3244223.190+ .696758
2728Romain GrosjeanAndretti Autosport40.3352223.130+ .707556
2815Graham RahalRahal Letterman Lanigan Racing40.3519223.038+ .724253
2923Santino FerrucciDreyer & Reinbold Racing40.3896222.830+ .761954
3029Devlin DeFrancescoAndretti Autosport40.4804222.330+ .852742
3133Ed CarpenterEd Carpenter Racing40.4846222.307+ .856923
324Dalton KellettA.J. Foyt Enterprises40.5641221.871+ .936449
3321Rinus VeeKayEd Carpenter Racing40.7908220.638+ 1.163118
Italics – Rookie

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