{"id":297897,"date":"2023-05-18T00:27:57","date_gmt":"2023-05-18T00:27:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=297897"},"modified":"2023-05-18T04:59:37","modified_gmt":"2023-05-18T04:59:37","slug":"indycar-teams-on-notice-after-unexpected-blitz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=297897","title":{"rendered":"IndyCar teams on notice after 'unexpected' blitz"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chip Ganassi Racing has asserted itself as the team to beat at this year's Indianapolis 500<\/a> after all four of its cars featured in the top 10 in the first practice.<\/p>\n

Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato led the way, topping Thursday's running at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with 2008 race winner teammate Scott Dixon just behind.<\/p>\n

Sato's best was a 369.246km\/h lap (229.439mph) while Dixon clocked a 368.819km\/h effort (229.174mph), making them the only two drivers to break the 229mph barrier.<\/p>\n

Stan Sport is the only place to watch the 2023 IndyCar Series, featuring Will Power, Scott McLaughlin and Scott Dixon.<\/strong><\/em> All the action streaming ad free, live and on demand<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Alex Palou was the next best Ganassi driver in fourth behind AJ Foyt Racing's Santino Ferrucci. Marcus Ericsson, who won last year's race, wound up seventh.<\/p>\n

\"Takuma<\/p>\n

Dixon set his best time early in the day on just his fourth lap and led for the lion's share of proceedings until Sato vaulted to the top late, setting his best time on his 76th lap.<\/p>\n

A five-time pole position winner, Dixon labelled the early effort "a little bit unexpected" while Sato admitted he didn't find his feet until late.<\/p>\n

"Today on the track, all four drivers divided a few different programs," said Sato.<\/p>\n

"I wasn't particularly happy with the kind of sensation I was getting in the morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Fans hold their breath as major Nadal news looms<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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"We're just working on what's the best way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"In the afternoon, the group run by Ganassi was a great hint for me about what needs to be done.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"We went for it, and we had a big tow, and that's why we have a very successful platform right now."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/12WillPower\/status\/1658971962180263936<\/a><\/p>\n

Sato's entry in this year's Indianapolis 500 is one of a limited schedule with Chip Ganassi Racing.<\/p>\n

His place on the grid in 2024 beyond the Memorial Day weekend event is unknown at this stage.<\/p>\n

In any case, the ex-Formula 1 driver said he's focused on what's in front of him.<\/p>\n

"I think my future is wide open, and really there's nothing guaranteed in the world," said Sato.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/Team_Penske\/status\/1658963306441318402<\/a><\/p>\n

"It's been a privilege to drive for Chip Ganassi Racing for the Indy 500, but just entirely focusing for this race first.<\/p>\n

"Of course, I'm representing the No.11 car for the rest of the season and hopefully two ovals more, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"But first things come first, the Indy 500 is a team score too, so yeah, that is very clear."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/IndyCar\/status\/1658963898773413890<\/a><\/p>\n

Outside of Chip Ganassi Racing's stronghold, Scott McLaughlin showed speed for Team Penske in fifth overall (367.691km\/h).\ufeff<\/p>\n

His stablemate Will Power finished just outside the top 10 in 12th (365.105km\/h).<\/p>\n

"Awesome to get back on track in the Pennzoil Chevy, the Yellow Submarine is obviously a crowd favourite," said McLaughlin.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/Team_Penske\/status\/1658963306441318402<\/a><\/p>\n

"A really good day for us. We ticked a lot of boxes. I don't know where we are speed-wise right now, but every time we've been wanting to do some speed we manage to do a reasonable time.<\/p>\n

"It feels nice. We'll see what we've got for the rest of the week. Fingers crossed, we're looking okay."\ufeff<\/p>\n

Thursday's practice marked the first outing for the IndyCar Series ahead of the Indianapolis 500 after the first session was rained out on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Practice continues on Friday with Stan Sport's live, ad-free, and exclusive coverage beginning on Saturday at 10:30pm. Qualifying begins at 1am on Sunday.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chip Ganassi Racing has asserted itself as the team to beat at this year's Indianapolis 500 after all four of its cars featured in the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":297899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297897"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=297897"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":297900,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297897\/revisions\/297900"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/297899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=297897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=297897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=297897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}