Indy 500 Open Test Day One: “Chevy is playing some game”

Written by Archie O’Reilly

Credit: Chris Owens

On-track preparations for the 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500 are officially underway with the opening day of the annual two-day Open Test concluded.

Here is how Wednesday unfolded at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS), with Scott Dixon leading the way for Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR). Team Penske’s two-time defending Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden was the only Chevy driver inside the top 10...

A delayed start to proceedings

Despite perfect weather conditions unlike recent years, delays struck teams at IMS just as testing was due to get underway at 10:05am local time. Connectivity issues following the install laps meant it was not safe to run, with timing and communications both down. 

The delay spanned over two-and-a-half hours before the veterans session could finally get underway, condensed from two hours to an hour-and-a-quarter. 

This featured those who have run an oval race since last May, plus Nolan Siegel, who completed his Rookie Orientation Programme (ROP) in October, as well as Ryan Hunter-Reay and Hélio Castroneves, having completed their refreshers in October.

Just over 10 minutes into the already-punctuated running, a caution was brandished as Jack Harvey’s No.24 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevy suffered a hybrid failure. It was an early setback for the Indy-only team, which has limited experience of the hybrid system.

Also inside the opening 45 minutes, a track inspection further disrupted the session before the Chevy engine of Santino Ferrucci’s No.14 AJ Foyt Racing machine almost immediately failed, with the 2023 third-place finisher pulling off to the side of the track.

The opening session was ultimately dominated by CGR, with championship leader Álex Palou leading Dixon and, for Ganassi-allied Meyer Shank Racing (MSR), Felix Rosenqvist. Newgarden and Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward rounded out the top five.

Rinus VeeKay was sidelined for the session with gremlins in his No.18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda and only logged his first lap inside the final hour of running for the day. Harvey and Ferrucci both emerged again in the closing minutes of the day.

Credit: Joe Skibinski

ROPs and refreshers completed

Following the initial veteran running, there were formalities to box off for those who have either never run an oval in IndyCar - in the case of the three rookies - or not run an oval in IndyCar since May last year.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL)’s Louis Foster was the first rookie to complete his ROP, which requires running 10 laps between 205-210 miles per hour, 15 laps between 210-215 mph and 15 laps in excess of 215 mph. 

Robert Shwartzman, who has never run an oval race - nor has his debuting PREMA Racing team - followed Foster in completing ROP. Jacob Abel completed the first two phases in this session and was able to promptly complete the programme in the following all-skate running.

By way of refreshers, Foster’s RLL teammate Devlin DeFrancesco was the first to tick all of the boxes - which for the returning veterans participating required running the final two phases of the ROP. His one-off teammate, two-time Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato, was the next to complete his refresher.

Shwartzman’s PREMA teammate Callum Ilott, who has not raced on an oval since competing with Arrow McLaren in last year’s Indy 500, also completed his refresher programme during the two-hour session.

Issues with his No.17 Arrow McLaren Chevy, partnered with Hendrick Motorsports, meant Kyle Larson did not complete Phase 3 in the allotted time, nor did 2020 pole-sitter Marco Andretti for his family team. But like Abel with his ROP, both promptly completed their refresher - as is allowed - in the day’s final session.

Sato was quickest in the ROP-and-refresher session, ahead of Andretti, DeFrancesco and Ilott. Shwartzman recorded the fastest speed of the rookies ahead of Foster, with Larson - struggling with his radio and a minor engine gremlin - ahead of Abel in the order of eight.

“We still have [radio issues],” Larson confirmed at the end of the day. “Then we were getting ready to go out to bang some laps out and get it done and I left pit road and the engine wasn’t running crisp.”

Credit: Joe Skibinski

Larson getting back in the groove

Returning for his second attempt at ‘The Double’ - running the Indy 500 and the NASCAR Cup Series’ Coca Cola 600 on the same day - Larson is no longer a novice. This time last year, he was only just running in traffic for the first time in an Indy car.

Now an Indy 500 sophomore, Larson has pre-existing knowledge to build upon. But it was still an adjustment switching back into IndyCar mode,

“It definitely took some getting accustomed to,” he said. “It’s honestly good to go through the refresher. I feel like it would be hard to commit to wide open anyway the first couple laps. Still just trying to get the hang of it but overall I felt comfortable.

“Still a little rusty on things, small detail things, hitting buttons and trying to really get the dash setup to where it processes quickly to my eyes and brain and little details like that.”

Larson admitted he has not yet had a sit-down discussion about whether he will run the Indy 500 beyond the 2025 season. But he is approaching it as though, at least for now while still full-time in Cup, this could be the last time.

After qualifying fifth and logging a full race distance last year, expectations will naturally rise for next month. But Larson has cut his typically composed figure.

“[There is] a little less anxiety of the unknown of what to expect,” he said. “I still think there was definitely things I didn’t fully know what to expect on. It is a little different car with the hybrid system, so there were things that I didn’t know. But just getting laps last year, I think an Indy car feels like an Indy car and you can get somewhat the speed. 

“I feel like for the Month of May when you come here, everybody builds into bigger pack running and stuff, where today it was everybody out there in a pack so you’ve got to get your mindset up to speed a little quicker than I guess I was expecting.”

Credit: Chris Jones

Honda dominate all-car session

The opening day of running on the IMS oval in 2025 concluded with over two-and-a-half hours of all-car running for the 34 drivers attempting to qualify for this year’s race. 

The final 15 minutes saw the most precarious moment of the day. Graham Rahal marginally missed clipping the Turn 2 wall before twice slapping the Turn 3 barrier on the same lap, causing right-rear toe-link damage which led to a major save as his No.15 RLL Honda wobbled through Turn 4. 

There was heads up driving from the rest of the pack to back off as, with Rahal off the pace, a first caution since the opening session of the day was thrown.

A mixture of run plans came to the fore as teams balanced qualifying and race-simulation running, but chiefly it was a first opportunity for significant packs to form in hybrid configuration around the famed 2.5-mile superspeedway. As always, this is bound to skew the speed charts somewhat amid a raft of tow laps for drivers.

Still, a notable pattern emerged as Honda made up nine of the top-10 positions, with Dixon and Sato sandwiching the Chevy of Newgarden as the only three drivers to break the 225 mph barrier. 

“I feel that I think Chevy is playing some game here,” Castroneves hypothesised. “So we’re just going to continue to do our thing.”

Indy 500 sophomore Marcus Armstrong was fourth for MSR ahead of Andretti Global’s Colton Herta, Palou and four-time Indy 500 winner Castroneves in his one-off MSR entry. Rosenqvist was eighth as Andretti and Kyle Kirkwood rounded out the top 10 for Andretti Global. 

Larson was the second-best Chevy-powered car in 11th, leading the fellow bowties of Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Conor Daly and last year’s Penske pole-sitter Scott McLaughlin.

Rosenqvist led the no-tow charts from Palou and Sato, followed by McLaughlin, Andretti and Larson. Rahal, who was a solid 14th overall after successive Last Chance Qualifying appearances in 2023 and 2024, was seventh in the no-tow charts. CGR sophomore Kyffin Simpson was eighth, with Kirkwood and Dixon rounding out the top 10.

Credit: Joe Skibinski

The first hybrid-powered Indy 500

A major change from last year’s running on the oval at IMS has been the addition of the hybrid system - introduced last July at Mid-Ohio. It was tested last October with a one-car-per team outing but the Open Test provides the first full-field hybrid running at IMS.

“Many times in the beginning I forgot to press it because you’re just so focused on what to do and obviously muscle memory kicks in,” said Castroneves, who has never raced with the hybrid. “We had some moments out there. I’m not sure if it was the weight or not. 

“Maybe that’s what I was feeling but quickly made some adjustments on the car. We’ve just got to continue doing changes and improving what we feel is best. The only thing now is finding when to deploy and when to recharge and things like that.”

Castroneves, sporting a new chassis for 2025, does not subscribe to the belief that the hybrid makes no positive difference.

“I felt a difference, no question,” he said. “When I tested here in October, it was 0.7 miles an hour. So it’s not like 10 miles an hour but it is something. It definitely can move you a lot of rows if you need it.”

Larson, meanwhile, has not driven the Indy car for 11 months but did sense somewhat of a handling shift.

“I don’t know if that’s the weight of that or what I’m feeling,” he said. “But it feels a little different - so not quite the same balance that I had last year. 

“Hearing them describe [the hybrid] to me was a little bit confusing, but once I got out there it was okay. I didn’t really feel like it does much of anything to help you… it definitely helps - it doesn’t hurt. But it’s not like you get this massive boost down the straightaway or anything. 

“I feel like whenever I would hit it, I’d get like an initial kind of handful of horsepower and then it just flattens out to normal. You get close and then you stall out. I think it’s a fair bit heavier than last year and rearward. I feel like that’s what I might be feeling.”