Alex Palou Today I did not have my sights set on repeating among the first but rather His sights are already on the weekend classification. And today he dedicated himself fully to it… and it hasn’t gone badly, although His position in today’s classification is 22nd.
Something that is explained because, except for the first part of the sessionwhere they were formed groups to roll in trafficmost of the day was spent in classification simulations. Hence the fastest laps (with slipstreams) were marked at the beginning.
That’s when Duck O’Ward set the reference with his McLaren with an average turn of 227,308 mph (365.8 km/h) and that is also what explains that Álex Palou, unlike the previous two days, did not appear among the best.
Palou, solo work
In fact, The Catalan barely did a few laps in the peloton at the beginning of the day to then focus only on the ‘qually runs’ where, without slipstreams, the averages are slower…It was especially active in the last hourwith many batches for outline the qualy set up and practice pit stops with the team every step of the way through the pits.
Today perhaps the classification of those laps without slipstream is more significant, where the two-time champion Takuma Sato (RLLR) was the best with 223.828 mph (360.2 km/h)with the fastest pole sitter in history (Scott McLaughlin) second and his partner in Penske, David Malukasthird, all above 223 miles per hour.
Palou marked the 4th best record without slipstream (223.230 mph)…although today’s are not significant (he did not use new wheels in the final hour, when he was on the track the most), since It will be tomorrow when we can do a better x-ray for Saturday. In the case of Palou, furthermore, tomorrow he will ride the race engine, which is usually reserved for Monday, after qualifying, but which Honda last year decided to install in the Fast Friday…and it didn’t go badly for them.
Results of Practice 3
Indy 500 2026
- Duck O’Ward (McLaren) – 227.308 mph.
- Helio Castroneves (Meyer Shank) – 226.977 mph.
- Marcus Armstrong (Meyer Shank) – 226.841 mph.
- Felix Rosenqvist (Meyer Shank) – 226.626 mph.
- Alex Rossi (Carpenter) – 226.364 mph.
- Sting Ray Robb (Hollinger Juncos) – 225.972 mph.
- Caio Collet (AJ Foyt) – 225.793 mph.
- Romain Grosjean (Dale Coyne) – 225.786 mph
- Scott Dixon (Ganassi) – 225.542 mph
- Ed Carpenter (Carpenter) – 225.061 mph.
Tomorrow, Fast Friday
Tomorrow will arrive the first important day for the classification: the Fast Friday. The engines will receive their sorting settingswith extra power via turbo boost pressure which will mean a speed increase of between 8 and 10 miles per hour compared to what has been seen so far.
