O’Ward is fastest in the ramp up for Fast Friday

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — On the third day of Indianapolis 500 practice, Pato O’Ward sets the best time as the NTT INDYCAR Series ramps up for Fast Friday.

O’Ward has been in the top dozen in both speed-charts the previous two sessions and his 227.308mph gave him the top honor today.

This was his fastest lap of the week and the third fastest overall behind Conor Daly and Alex Palou.

“We got a race run in, we got some qualifying simulations in, and the car is in good balance,” O’Ward said.

In anticipation to the pace increase, he closed his end of practice remarks with this comment. “Tomorrow when the boost comes up, it does change quite a bit. Yeah, so far it’s been very smooth.”

Following the Arrow McLaren driver were the Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb Agajanian trio.

Helio Castroneves finished second with 226.977mph. Marcus Armstrong finished third with 226.841mph. Finally, Felix Rosenqvist finished fourth with 226.626mph as MSR completed their top-five day.

Alexander Rossi completed the top five today with 226.364mph. The former INDY 500 winner and Ed Carpenter Racing driver also completed the most circuits today with 68 laps around the 2.5-mile oval.

While the Mexican driver was fastest overall, today’s primary focus among the paddock was single-car speed.

The third session saw 18 new drivers eclipse the 222mph non-tow mark to bring the total from three to 19 before the horsepower was raised by an additional 100.

Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato finished today as the highest non-tow driver. He became one of five drivers this week to reach 223mph.

Scott McLaughlin joined the ranks in second. Then his teammate David Malukas, reigning champion Alex Palou, and finally Rinus VeeKay rounded out the top five.

The teams shifted towards qualifying simulations resulting in less laps turned. In total, 1,469 incident-free laps were ran today.

Below is the full results of the third day of Indianapolis 500 practice.

Full Day 3 Results