Day 3: Meyer Shank Racing Indianapolis 500 Practice Report

Indianapolis, Ind. (16 May 2024) – Day 3 of Indianapolis 500 practice brought blue skies and sunshine and a seven hour day of testing, leaving Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) drivers with lots of laps logged and plenty of data before engines are turned up for “Fast Friday.”

The start of the day saw all three MSR drivers tackle qualifying sims around the 2.5-mile oval in preparation for qualifying on Saturday. Once the team logged in several qualifying runs, the focus then went to race pace and running in traffic. With a combined 250 laps run on Thursday, the team maximized the day before the final day of practice before qualifying.

Helio Castroneves, MSR w/ Curb-Agajanian No. 06 Cleveland-Cliffs Honda

Top Speed: 225.056 mph

No-Tow Speed: 222.852 mph

Total Laps: 81

Helio Castroneves Quote: “I felt that we had a productive day. We tested a few things that were brand new for us, though we still have a little bit more to do. We did a few race simulations, now we’ll go analyze to see if the setup from yesterday or today is the best option for Monday’s race test – and tomorrow we’ll convert everything to qualifying.”

Felix Rosenqvist, No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda

Top Speed: 224.212 mph

No-Tow Speed: 222.221 mph

Total Laps: 84

Felix Rosenqvist Quote: “We got a good amount of running earlier today, obviously without the added boost that we get tomorrow. So we were able to dial in the car a little bit. The car felt good, but it’s still a bit slow, so maybe we’re off on the ride height. Running in traffic seemed good, and that’s mostly what we’ve been doing for the rest of the day. But it was a bit gnarly out there, I had quite a close call with Marcus (Ericsson), luckily he’s okay. But so far, so good. It’s just super close out there – if you’re in the top three, you can make moves, but if you’re beyond that, you can’t move. But that’s really like it always is!”

Tom Blomqvist, No. 66 AutoNation / Arctic Wolf Honda

Top Speed: 222.369 mph

No-Tow Speed: 222.369

Total Laps: 85

Tom Blomqvist Quote: “Different day, so just really feeling more comfortable out there, with a day to sleep on it and recover mentally. It was a bit overwhelming yesterday, with everything, there’s been so much input. Today was my first day of real running, especially around other cars, and it felt much better for us. We just need to work on the setup to find a bit of speed, but I’m happy with my confidence level now, so that’s a good step forward from yesterday.”