McLaughlin fastest at Indy

Kiwi Scott McLaughlin has marked the arrival of Anzac Day by topping the Open Test Day at Indianapolis.

McLaughlin, who took Indy 500 pole last year, emerged fastest from the two and a half hour session with a 38.6788s lap at 232.686mph.

The Team Penske Kiwi was flying all around the iconic 2.5 mile oval, having the quickest speed traps at the finish line and Turn 1 before only being pipped by Josef Newgarden at Turn 3.

After recording 220 laps, the third most of the day, McLaughlin emerged just 0.0200s faster than Japanese veteran Takuma Sato.

In further promise for antipodean race fans, Australia’s Will Power slotted into third place.

The #12 Penske machine was half a tenth adrift of the ultimate pace with a 38.7467 and also broke the 200 lap barrier.

During the session the boost level was turned up from 1.3 bar to 1.5 bar, adding around 90 horsepower.

Both McLaughlin and Power felt comfortable behind the wheel.

“It’s cool to turn up the boost; the car feels pretty similar to last year, which is a nice feeling,” McLaughlin said.

“Just working through the motions and learning the hybrid system under qualifying conditions at full boost. It’s always nice to turn the boost up here around Indy.

“The Team Chevy engine feels fast.

“We have had a really good couple days. Felt like we got through a lot from a hybrid perspective.

“Overall really solid balance to kick off the month of May.

“The car is certainly different with the extra weight and whatnot. I think speaking to a lot of the drivers, I think we all concur the same thoughts: it’s different.

“It’s fine, fun to get used to and understand it. I feel like I really honed in on a lot of things at a low intensity level just to feel out the car and see where we’re at.”

“Just did a couple of quali sims to get us prepared for the qualifying weekend in May,” Power said.

“We got a good feel for it and are trying to work out how to best use the hybrid. We’ll go back and look at the data to see what the best strategy is.”

But one of the big stories of the day surrounded Kyle Larson.

The NASCAR Cup Series champion is having a second crack at the Indianapolis 500.

However, he found the limit at Turn 1, clipping the wall before a heavier hit at Turn 2.

“I was starting my qualifying laps there and, just got really tight and just a bunch of understeer through Turn 1, and ran out of space off of Turn 1,” Larson said.

“I kind of fought the understeer feeling yesterday and, yeah, carry over to the day. So, honestly, though, I’m happy to crash my first IndyCar and, live through it.

“We’ll just work on it and try and get the balance more comfortable.

“I just didn’t quite feel like I had the feeling I needed yesterday, and then it really carried over today.

“I think when you’re going faster, you know, it really stood out. Just a bummer, but, also, you know, encouraging that it didn’t feel I know it wasn’t like a big hit or anything, but it didn’t feel anything different than what I was expecting.”

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