The Indy 500 has officially begun on May 15th with the first two practices taking place out on the 2.5 mile oval. 

  The team that seems to be the one to beat so far is none other than Team Penske. Simon Pagenaud lead the first practice session in his Menards Chevrolet, followed by Helio Castroneves in second and American Josef Newgarden in third. Helio Castroneves will be the one most will be watching as he makes his final attempt at joining the four time Indy 500 winners club. 

  Andretti Autosports Marco Andretti was fourth followed by the owner and driver Ed Carpenter placing fifth in his Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevrolet. 

  Carlos Munoz makes his return to Andretti Autosport this year for another shot at getting his face on Borg Warner trophy after being let go by AJ Foyt Racing and showed he’s a force to be reckon with by placing eighth in his first time in a IndyCar since September. 

  The next session would be the Rookie and Refresher test

   Rookie Zach Clamen Demelo would make his on track debut in an IndyCar at IMS after it being made official he would replace the injured Pietro Fittipaldi in this years 500. 

  Stefan Wilson the younger brother of the late Justin Wilson would get into an IndyCar for the first time since 2016 after being scheduled to participate in 2017, however he step aside and give his seat up for the much speculated Indy 500 debute of Fernando Alonso.

 Oriol Servia would be on track for the first time with a new participant, IMSA Weathertech Sports Car Scuderia Corsa with Ferrari. They will have joint effort this year with RLL Racing. 

 Finally the last team to compete in the refresher test was Australian James Davison. In an effort with AJ Foyt Racing, Jonathan Byrd Racing, Hollinger Motorsport and Belardi Auto Racing will give Davison another shot at drinking the milk as he had an impressive run one year ago in 101st running while filling in for the injured Sebastien Bourdais. 

  The final practice showed that Team Penske means business as usual with Helio Castroneves taking quick time of the session followed by Ed Carpenter and the pleasantly surprising Jay Howard with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports right behind in third. 

  Another unexpected result was that of Sage Karam. Back with Dreyer and Reinbold Racing this year, he would bring the car home sixth quickest at the end of the day. 

Practice 1 results 

1. Simon Pagenaud 

2. Helio Castroneves 

3. Josef Newgarden 

4. Marco Andretti 

5. Ed Carpenter 

6. Will Power 

7. Scott Dixon 

8. Carlos Munoz 

9. Zach Veach

10. Gabby Chaves 

11. Ryan Hunter Reay 

12. Graham Rahal 

13. Spencer Pigot 

14. Takuma Sato

15. Alexander Rossi

16. Jack Harvey 

17. Ed Jones 

18. Charlie Kimball

19. Sebastien Bourdais

20. Max Chilton 

21. Sage Karam 

Practice 2 Results 

1. Helio Castroneves 

2. Ed Carpenter 

3. Jay Howard 

4. Scott Dixon

5. Marco Andretti

6. Sage Karam 

7. Charlie Kimball 

8. Gabby Chaves 

9. Zach Veach 

10. Ryan Hunter-Reay 

11. Spencer Pigot 

12. James Davison 

13. Takuma Sato

14. Simon Pagenaud 

15. Robert Wickens

16. Sebastien Bourdais 

17. Ed Jones 

18. Danica Patrick 

19. Carlos Munoz 

20. Oriol Servia 

21. Stefan Wilson

22. Will Power 

23. Alexander Rossi 

24. JR Hildebrand 

25. James Hinchcliffe 

26. Josef Newgarden 

27. Graham Rahal 

28. Jack Harvey 

29. Tony Kanaan 

30. Max Chilton 

31. Zach Clamen Demelo

32. Kyle Kaiser 

33. Conor Daly 

34. Pippa Mann 

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