You gotta love that Indiana weather. If you don’t like it, wait awhile. Thursday is the day set aside for the Firestone Indy Lights Series at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The eleven drivers were scheduled for three hours of practice 9am to noon ET, followed by qualifying at 1:15 pm ET for Friday’s Freedom 100 Race.
The ambient temperature for Practice was 63 degrees F/17C, while the track temperature was 73 degrees F/23C.
However, the young drivers barely got in an hour before the caution flew for moisture. After sticking it out in Pit Lane for a reasonable amount of time, the teams headed back for the barn, and started installing qualifying setups. Officially, the session concluded at 11:10am.
Rookie SAGE KARAM/Schmidt Peterson c/w Curb-Agajanian was the fastest of all, at 189.981 mph. Points Leader CARLOS MUNOZ/Andretti Autosport was third fastest, but only turned four laps. As he is also running the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race, starting second, in the middle of the front row, he has been around the track for a few laps.
Before we all feel too sorry for the Lights drivers missing out on track time, remember they all got a whole day of practice at The Brickyard the day the IZOD IndyCar series went to Brazil. Knowing how iffy the May weather can be at the Speedway, it was good pre-planning on the part of Series Director, TONY GEORGE, Jr and Race/Technical Director, VINCE KREMER.
INDY LIGHTS PRACTICE RESULTS
1. *Sage KARAM // 189.981 mph / 20 laps
2. *Kyle O’GARA // 189.940 mph / 17 laps
3. Carlos Munoz // 189.511 mph / 4 laps
4. *Gaby CHAVES // 189.313 mph / 19 laps
5. Peter Dempsey // 188.941 mph / 12 laps
6 *Zach VEACH // 188.888 mph / 27 laps
7. Juan Pablo GARCIA // 188.724 mph / 28 laps
8. Austin CHASE // 188.199 mph / 24 laps
9. Jorge GONCALVEZ // 187.670 mph / 8 laps
10. *Jack HAWKSWORTH // 187.355 mph / 15 laps
11. *Jimmy SIMPSON // 186.827 mph / 20 laps