Kiwis shine in tight Indy 500 practice as history beckons at the Brickyard

The countdown to the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 is officially on. If the first practice session is anything to go by, we’re in for an electrifying edition of the world’s biggest motorsport event.

Kiwi IndyCar trio—Scott Dixon, Scott McLaughlin, and Marcus Armstrong stormed into the top 10 during a fiercely competitive session at the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Dixon finished P4, McLaughlin P5 and Armstrong P8.

Just five-tenths of a second separated the top 10, with less than nine-tenths covering the top 20. The margins? Razor-thin. The tension? Already sky high.

Leading the timesheets were Will Power, Josef Newgarden, and Alex Palou, with a mere one-tenth of a second between them. That’s an early sign that this year’s fight for pole and race-day glory could come down to the smallest of margins.

Also making headlines is NASCAR superstar Kyle Larson, who’s taking on “The Double” and returning for his second attempt at the Indy 500.

Larson clocked a lap time of 40.6858 seconds, placing 24th in today’s session as he continues to adjust to the unique demands of open-wheel racing at over 230mph.

With talent and determination on his side, all eyes will be on his progress through the month of May.

For Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden, the stakes are monumental. He’s gunning for a historic three-peat, having claimed victory in both 2023 and 2022. Can he become the first to do it since the great Wilbur Shaw in the late 1930s?

But the path to victory is crowded with champions. Recent winners include Marcus Ericsson (2022), Hélio Castroneves (2021), Takuma Sato (2020, 2017), Simon Pagenaud (2019), Will Power (2018), Alexander Rossi (2016), and Juan Pablo Montoya (2015). And of course, Scott Dixon—the first Kiwi to ever win the Indy 500—who etched his name into history back in 2008.

Could Dixon reclaim the crown? Or might McLaughlin or Armstrong deliver New Zealand its second Indy 500 champion?

As always, tradition looms large at The Brickyard. The winner will celebrate with the iconic bottle of milk, a custom that dates back to Louis Meyer in 1936. And the champion also receives the prestigious Borg-Warner Trophy, complete with their face and name etched into history.

And just for fun: if you lined up all the hot dogs and bratwurst sold on race day end-to-end, they’d circle the 2.5-mile oval more than three times.

The second practice session is set to go green at 4.00am NZT tomorrow morning, wrapping up at 10.00am. It’s the same schedule on Friday for the third practice session and Saturday for the fourth practice session before the qualification draw at 10.15am Saturday.

Header Image: Penske Entertainment – Matt Fraver