Andretti cars set pace in practice
Rookie Rossi fourth as team records five of top six times
Five of the top six INDIANAPOLIS times in Monday’s Indianapolis 500 practice were from Andretti Autosport, including the team’s rookie, Alexander Rossi, who finished fourth at 226.865 mph.
Rossi said he didn’t know what to expect from his first day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“This morning was definitely eye-opening in terms of not having any kind of comparison to a place like this,” said Rossi, who joined Andretti Autosport in February after he was left out of Formula One’s rotation.
There was no correlation to the high-speed action of F1.
“No,” Rossi said, at which point Marco Andretti turned to his teammate on the news conference stage and said, “Told you.”
“It’s true,” Rossi added. “He’s been talking about (the IMS experience) for, like, two months.”
But getting out on the track for the first time Monday wasn’t Rossi’s first pinch-me moment. That came about a month ago on his first visit to the speedway.
“(I) was just walking around, went up into the stands and everything and saw the track from a very different perspective,” he said. “I think (another pinch-me moment) will come when it gets closer to race day and qualifying.
“But at the moment, (Monday) was very much about testing and reducing the learning curve as much as possible.”
Andretti, who had Monday’s top lap of 228.978 mph, doesn’t think Rossi will have a problem with that undertaking.
“He’s definitely a quick learner,” Andretti said. “To be honest, (Rossi) did a better job than the rest of us last weekend (in the IndyCar road race here). ... I was following him last week.”
Rossi finished 10th in Saturday’s Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis, one spot behind Ryan Hunter-Reay but ahead of Carlos Munoz (12th) and Andretti (15th).
All 33 car-and-driver combinations participated Monday, with the five rookies passing IndyCar’s three-phase orientation.
Along with Rossi, USAC champion Bryan Clauson was a top-10 surprise, with a lap of 224.767 mph — faster than either of his past qualifying times. Matt Brabham got his first taste of ovaltrack action — the Grand Prix of Indianapolis was his first IndyCar race. He was 25th Monday.
Reigning 500 champion Juan Pablo Montoya was 13th at 224.613 mph.