Indianapolis Motor Speedway | May 17, 2022

The first day of on-track practice for the 106th Indianapolis 500 is complete for Arrow McLaren SP.

The NTT INDYCAR SERIES is at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the next two weeks, preparing this week for qualifying on Saturday and Sunday. Today, Felix Rosenqvist ended the session 16th, Pato O'Ward in 24th and Juan Pablo Montoya in 31st.

Qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 will take place on May 21-22 before the 200-lap event on May 29. 

After Tuesday's action, let's hear from Pato O’Ward, Felix Rosenqvist, Juan Pablo Montoya and President Taylor Kiel.

Key info

Round	6/17
Where	Indianapolis Motor Speedway
When	Sunday, May 29
Race laps	200
Total race distance	500 miles / 804.6 km
Length	2.5 miles / 4.02 km
Number of turns	4
Follow	@ArrowMcLarenSP on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube

Practice 1	224.920 mph	9th
Practice 2	225.759 mph	16th

"We just finished our first practice day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In the morning, we just kind of cruised around and checked the car. In the afternoon, we started on a base line and then I think we got a bit lost, so we went back to the baseline. We then went in a new direction, which felt really good. Every time you learn something that doesn’t work its actually good data collection and then we went in a really good direction in the end, so we ended the day in a happy place."

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Practice 1	224.381 mph	14th
Practice 2	224.920 mph	24th

"A long day for us. We made quite a lot changes, some worked, some didn’t, but that’s what practice is all about. We’re working to find ways of improving our car in the areas where we’ve had issues in the past, but it felt like home when we went back out there today. It’s been a great benchmark and starting point to try and make the car faster.

"Today we worked a lot on pace in traffic, we’ll start worrying about speed later in the week before qualifying. Right now, we're focused on trying to make the race pace as good as possible. The track temp was quite high today, which it usually is on race day, so I think today’s running was a really good representation of what we can expect next week."

Practice 1	223.630 mph	18th
Practice 2	223.929 mph	31st

"Day one of the Indianapolis 500 went better than last year but not as good as I want it. It’s difficult conditions, it's windy, it's really hot, so we were just going through a lot of test items. We tried out a lot of things and we didn't quite find as many things that worked as we did in the open test. You need to stay cool and collected and understand what you need to do. We still have a lot of practice to go. Hopefully the weather cooperates tomorrow.

"Overall it’s OK. I never really focus on putting up a big number or lap time, like everyone who put on new tires and tried to get big numbers in the tow. I don't really focus on that at all so it's hard to know where you really stack up with everybody."

"Day one complete here at Indianapolis, the opening day of practice for the Indy 500. A really productive day for us, we stayed really disciplined to our run plan. We certainly weren’t out there looking for big tow laps, we were really focused on correlating a lot of our offseason work to make our race car better. We were taking advantage of the conditions today to make sure we have good race cars in varying conditions.

"This morning had cooler ambient temperatures and cooler track temperatures, that car requires a certain setup and aero balance, and then it got warmer in the afternoon. That gave us a good opportunity to test our cars in varying conditions and gather data which we can look at overnight. Full focus today was on race cars and making sure the 5, 6 & 7 are in the best condition to compete for a win in two weeks’ time. We’ll gradually shift focus towards outright speed and qualifying trim over the week, but today, tomorrow and Thursday our full focus is on our race craft."

Session times

Practice	Wednesday, 12-6 p.m. ET
Practice	Thursday, 12-6 p.m. ET
Practice	Friday, 12-6 p.m. ET
Qualifying	Saturday, 12-5 p.m. ET
Top 12 Practice	Sunday, 12-2:30 p.m. ET
Top 12 & 6 Qualifying	Sunday, 4-6 p.m. ET
Practice	Monday, May 23, 12-2 p.m. ET
Final Practice	Friday, May 27, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. ET
Indianapolis 500	Sunday, May 29, 11 a.m. ET on NBC
Green Flag	Sunday, May 29 at 12:45 p.m. ET

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