Speeds increased for the second day of practice for this year's Indianapolis 500. While only pacesetter Josef Newgarden topped 220mph on Saturday, six drivers recorded fastest laps over the 220 threshold on Sunday, led by AFS/Andretti Autosport's Sebastian Saavedra.
Saavedra's best speed of 221.526 came in a draft with his Andretti Autosport teammates. Second and third were the two Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing DW12-Hondas of Bryan Clauson and Newgarden, each also over 221.
"There's some big strategy at Andretti Autosport, and we're five cars and all of us have homework to do every day," said Saavedra. "We have things to try, and we sit down all together to see what works, what we need to try for the next day, but everything is a big strategy. Everything needs to be very well established. It's the professional way to do it."
The single Chevrolet led four Hondas, with a six-four split of Hondas to Chevrolets in the top 10.
Several drivers who didn't post a Saturday lap – Ryan Hunter-Reay, James Hinchcliffe, Wade Cunningham, Ana Beatriz and Townsend Bell – all recorded their first times on Sunday. Marco Andretti had shaken down two of the sister Andretti cars on Saturday, and completed laps in both his primary No. 26 RC Cola entry and Beatriz's No. 25 car this afternoon. Cunningham completed the third and final phase of his Rookie Orientation Program.
Bell arrived to the track after competing in the American Le Mans Series race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in a Lotus Evora for Alex Job Racing, to turn his first IMS laps in Sam Schmidt Motorsports' second DW12-Honda. Bell completed a shakedown for the team last month at Texas Motor Speedway.
Meanwhile, Rubens Barrichello's ongoing adaption to oval racing continued, with the F1 veteran's confidence levels getting a boost after KV Racing teammate Tony Kanaan validated the setup of his car.
"At the end of the day, I got Tony to drive my car because I needed to see if I was developing the car in the right way or not," Barrichello said. "He was getting the same speed as me, so that gives me more confidence to carry on my work. It is only the second day, and luckily at Indianapolis I have another week to practice."
In all, 31 drivers recorded 1,138 incident-free laps on the day. Practice continues on May 14 from noon to 6 p.m.
Pos Driver Team/Car Speed
1. Sebastian Saavedra Andretti DW12-Chevrolet 221.526
2. Bryan Clauson Fisher DW12-Honda 221.723
3. Josef Newgarden Fisher DW12-Honda 221.158
4. Scott Dixon Ganassi DW12-Honda 220.829
5. Justin Wilson Coyne DW12-Honda 220.625
6. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti DW12-Chevrolet 220.357
7. JR Hildebrand Panther DW12-Chevrolet 219.559
8. James Jakes Coyne DW12-Honda 218.995
9. James Hinchcliffe Andretti DW12-Chevrolet 218.890
10. Charlie Kimball Ganassi DW12-Honda 218.812
11. Ed Carpenter Carpenter DW12-Chevrolet 218.481
12. Tony Kanaan (#11) KV DW12-Chevrolet 218.468
13. Takuma Sato Rahal DW12-Honda 218.016
14. Dario Franchitti Ganassi DW12-Honda 217.993
15. Ryan Briscoe Penske DW12-Chevrolet 217.987
16. EJ Viso KV DW12-Chevrolet 217.934
17. Will Power Penske DW12-Chevrolet 217.762
18. Marco Andretti (#26) Andretti DW12-Chevrolet 217.706
19. Oriol Servia Panther/DRR DW12-Chevrolet 217.656
20. Graham Rahal Ganassi DW12-Honda 217.551
21. Alex Tagliani BHA DW12-Honda 217.166
22. Helio Castroneves Penske DW12-Chevrolet 216.961
23. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt DW12-Honda 216.824
24. Wade Cunningham Foyt DW12-Honda 216.657
25. Mike Conway Foyt DW12-Honda 215.725
26. Rubens Barrichello KV DW12-Chevrolet 215.578
27. Townsend Bell Schmidt DW12-Honda 215.042
28. Marco Andretti (#25) Andretti DW12-Chevrolet 214.745
29. Ana Beatriz Andretti DW12-Chevrolet 214.745
30. Michel Jourdain Jr. Rahal DW12-Honda 214.117
31. Tony Kanaan (#8) KV DW12-Chevrolet 213.664
32. Jean Alesi Fan Force DW12-Lotus 205.265
33. Simona de Silvestro HVM DW12-Lotus 202.179