Paddock Buzz Extra: Rookies Adjust Quickly to Big Speeds

It’s often easy to forget how fast NTT INDYCAR SERIES race cars are traveling.

Nine-time Indianapolis 500 starter and 2016 winner Alexander Rossi said he doesn’t even notice the speed of his machinery at Indianapolis Motor Speedway anymore, despite his No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet traveling more than a football field per second on the 2.5-mile oval. His top lap this week was 229.716 mph, good for 15th among 34 drivers.

The best way to capture the sensation of speed around the 2.5-mile oval is to find a rookie who’s turning 220-mph laps for the first time.

“The track is really fun, really fast,” PREMA Racing rookie driver Robert Shwartzman said. “It’s impressive, the speed and the feeling you get. You go flat out, and you’re like, ‘OK, I just need to hold that flat.’

“It’s a bit scary for me as a rookie, first time, but you still get the confidence lap by lap with the car that it’s staying there. Overall, really cool experience.”

Shwartzman completed 262 laps this week in the No. 83 PREMA Racing Chevrolet, giving him plenty of experience ahead of the opening day of “500” practice Tuesday, May 13.

On Wednesday, Shwartzman was among three rookie drivers, joining Louis Foster of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and Dale Coyne Racing’s Jacob Abel, who participated in the three-phase Rookie Orientation Program. The program is designed for first-year drivers to gradually get up to speed, ranging from 10 laps at 205-210 mph, then 15 laps between 210-215 and finally 15 laps over 215 mph.

Thursday, everyone returned to the track with engine turbo boost increasing to qualifying levels for the morning session. Shwartzman, who had a top speed of 220.414 on Wednesday, traveled 7 mph faster with the higher boost settings at 227.517 on Thursday morning. That ended up 25th overall in the test.

“It felt like quite a significant chunk,” Shwartzman said. “I was feeling OK, then the car in the morning went really faster. I looked at my steering wheel, the mph and was like, ‘That’s 8 to 10 mph faster than yesterday.’ Obviously, you get into the corner faster, so that’s the other challenge. Wednesday was already a stretch of the limit, and the car is now going even faster.”

Kirkwood Believes in Victory Chances

Kyle Kirkwood, the latest NTT INDYCAR SERIES winner via the April 13 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, had a strong two-day test.

He left Indianapolis so confident, the Andretti Global driver expects to be in the mix to win both crown jewels on the NTT INDYCAR SERIES calendar in the same season, adding an Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge win to his Long Beach trophy.

“That was the best initial test that I've ever had by a good margin,” Kirkwood said. “We were really quick on no-tow speeds, race trim and qualifying trim.

“We were really racy with some cars there, too. If you're up front, I felt like we were one of the best that could be in that top-three range.”

Kirkwood was third fastest (223.362) in the final practice session Thursday afternoon in the No. 27 Honda and second fastest on the non-tow report at 231.464 from the morning session, which featured boost levels used in qualifying.

By comparison, he was 15th fastest in last year’s Open Test that didn’t feature the added qualifying horsepower.

“We went into this ‘500’ more testing than ever, more aerodynamic stuff than ever, more setup stuff than ever,” Kirkwood said. “Came here with a pretty different mindset on a lot of things.

“I think it's paying off a little bit in the early days, although this is one of the best test days we'll ever get at the Speedway, when the weather is like this, typically as it is in the end of the Month of May.

“We got through everything. Everything we wanted to do which is really positive. Rarely can you say that in a test.”

Kirkwood’s best “500” finish is seventh last year.

RLL Shows More Speed in Qualifying Trim

Takuma Sato crashed his No. 75 AMADA Honda of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in the Thursday morning “boosted” session. The two-time “500” winner, in 2017 and 2020, was unhurt.

But the question entering the Month of May is how much did the hard impact cost Sato’s chances of becoming the 11th driver to win three or more “500’s?”

For example, last year saw only Marcus Ericsson and Nolan Siegel crash in separate opening-week accidents, which put their respective programs on a large back foot. Ericsson started 32nd among 33 starters while Siegel was the lone driver to miss the show.

Sato’s “500” car was heavily damaged in crash Thursday. Add that to RLL’s struggles to qualify at Indy in recent years, and it’s cause for concern.

In 2023, RLL had three of the four participants in the Last Chance Qualifying Shootout, with Graham Rahal as the lone driver to miss the show. He’d later race but with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, subbing for Stefan Wilson who was injured in a race week practice crash. The team qualified 30th, 31st and 33rd, respectively.

Sato was the top RLL qualifier in ninth last year. The other spots, though, were 28th and 30th.

That’s why Rahal gave Thursday’s “boosted” session a warm welcome instead of finding out during the Fast Friday session May 16 if the team was in trouble.

Despite Sato’s Thursday morning crash, RLL looked vastly improved in its qualifying pace. Sato was the quickest among 34 drivers on the non-tow chart at 232.565. Rookie Foster was fourth (230.263), Rahal was 10th (229.634) and Devlin DeFrancesco 17th (228.084).

Castroneves Applauds “Flawless” Open Test

Helio Castroneves gave Meyer Shank Racing its first NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory in the 2021 Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. Castroneves also knocked down the door to the prestigious four-win club, joining A.J. Foyt, Al Unser, and Rick Mears for most “500” wins in history.

Neither driver nor team has won since.

However, a strong start to the season via full-time drivers Felix Rosenqvist and Marcus Armstrong and a great “500” test this week allowed 24-time “500” starter Castroneves to proclaim his No. 06 Cliffs Honda will be a contender Sunday, May 25.

“The car was pretty flawless,” Castroneves said. “Especially on the second day. Now we can reassess the next few weeks so we can make it better when we come back next month.”

Castroneves’ lap of 223.234 mph in the No. 06 Honda for MSR was sixth overall in the final session Thursday afternoon. That’s a big improvement from being 25th last year after a lap of 221.398. He was 19th in 2023.

Shwartzman Visits Two Iconic Venues This Week

Three days before turning laps at IMS, Shwartzman was at Wrigley Field in Chicago, throwing out the first pitch of Sunday’s Chicago Cubs vs. Arizona Diamondbacks game.

That was Israel native Shwartzman’s first baseball game and the first time he threw a baseball.

“Honestly, my throw was not the greatest; I admit that,” Shwartzman said. “But I had never thrown anything like that before, never practiced. I’m happy that I managed to get it to the Bear (Cubs mascot was the catcher), which was the target. Obviously, I need to practice more to get it properly straight.

“But, the whole team thing, it was really cool. I really like the venue of the Cubs, really nice. It looks sort of old and new at the same time. It really give me nice vibes. It’s a bit like Harry Potter. They had these bricks all around the buildings.

“It’s really interesting. Before, I thought baseball was quite boring. I didn't know anything, no rules, nothing. There is a bat, there is a ball. The only target is to hit the ball and make the throw somewhere. But then they explained the whole game and how you need to be clever, the reaction time of the players there, they need to react quick. So, it was actually a cool thing. I would like to visit more.”

Odds and Ends

Former NTT INDYCAR SERIES driver Ryan Briscoe is the sporting director at PREMA Racing. Last Monday, Briscoe competed in his first Boston Marathon. Briscoe beat his goal of breaking three hours for the 26.2-mile race by nearly five minutes, finishing in 2 hours, 55 minutes, 28 seconds.

Blue-and-white seems to be the preferred color scheme for cars at this year’s “500.” Rahal, Ericsson, Rosenqvist, Rinus VeeKay, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Kyle Larson, Siegel and Marco Andretti all feature those colors in their liveries.

Kyffin Simpson (No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) completed the most laps in the test with 265. Shwartzman was behind him with 262 circuits. Colton Herta (234), Scott McLaughlin (220), Andretti (213), Christian Lundgaard (211), Abel (211), Will Power (201) and Scott Dixon (200) completed a full race distance of 200 laps/500 miles for the test.

DRR was the least-busy team with Jack Harvey, who had a mechanical issue on Wednesday, completing only 86 laps across two days. His teammate and 2014 “500” winner, Hunter-Reay, ran 96 laps.

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