Scott Dixon has set the second fastest time in the first practice session for the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500 today, slotting in behind Takuma Sato who topped the timing sheet.
After practice was rained off on Tuesday, 34 entries finally got out on track on what was officially day two of the fifth NTT IndyCar Series round for 2023.
The 2008 race winner managed to set a time of 39.27 seconds while hitting a top speed of 229.17mph (368.81km/h), lapping the oval a total of 94 times.
However, that wasn’t enough to beat fellow Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Sato, who set the fastest time of the day of 39.22 seconds.
This weekend marks the Japanese driver’s first Indy 500 with the team, a race in which he previously won in 2017 with Andretti Autosport and in 2020 with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
After Dixon came Ferrucci Santino in third and Alex Palou in fourth, with Kiwi Scott McLaughlin rounding out the top five positions in practice with a time of 39.39 seconds.
“Really looking forward to the 500, as always with the Month of May. We’re going to try and go out to get some redemption from last year,” said Dixon leading up to the race.
“I hope that our cars are as fast as they always are with Ganassi here for the 500. I’m going to try and enjoy it as much as possible and get after this race and see what lies ahead.”
In the past year, Dixon became the all-time lap leader of the Indy 500 after turning the track a total 665 times and now looks to become the first driver to take pole position in three consecutive races.
Three practice sessions still remain before qualifying gets underway on Saturday and Sunday, as well as the another practice session next Monday. Final practice is set for next week Friday (26 May) ahead of the race that Sunday.
The 107th Indianapolis 500 will get underway on Sunday 28 May at 11am ET (Monday 30 May at 3am NZST).
Header Image: Scott Dixon Facebook
