Carlos Munoz fastest in third practice session, Castroneves, Mann OK after wrecks - MotorSportsTalk

At the end of May, no one will likely remember who had the fastest car on the third day of Indianapolis 500 practice.

The record will show that Carlos Munoz was the fastest with a speed of 230.121 mph thanks to a tow, followed by Townsend Bell (228.969), Tony Kanaan (228.172), James Davison (228.043) in his first full day at the track in the No. 19 Honda for Dale Coyne Racing, and Sage Karam (227.822).

The lasting impressions from Wednesday will be those of relief that Helio Castroneves and Pippa Man both walked away from scary wrecks during the six-hour practice session.

Castroneves, the three-time Indy 500 winner, got loose exiting Turn 1 during his second lap of the day and after hitting the wall, flipped up in air before landing on its wheels.

The Team Penske driver quickly exited his No. 3 Chevrolet and would be cleared in the infield medical center. With under 15 minutes left in the session, Castroneves returned to the track in a backup car, running 12 laps for the 15th best speed at 226.670 mph.

Mann wrecked her No. 63 Susan G. Komen Honda for Dale Coyne Racing coming out of Turn 4 with about 55 minutes left in the session. She slid into the inside retaining wall before also hitting the attenuator on the wall of the pit entrance.

Mann was cleared in the medical center but did not return to the track, finishing the session 21st fastest at 226.301 mph.

The session’s top 10 was made up of four Honda engines and six Chevrolet engines.

The driver with the most practice time was Bryan Clauson (31st fastest) in his No. 88 Chevrolet, who logged 97 laps, followed by Charlie Kimball with 93.

Team Penske’s fastest driver was Simon Pagenaud, who was P1 for much of the session, but wound up P7 at 227.478 mph.

Practice Results

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INDIANAPOLIS — The first Indy 500 victory for Josef Newgarden also was the richest in race history from a record 2023 purse of just more than $17 million.

The two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion, who continued his celebration Monday morning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway earned $3.666 million for winning the 107th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

The purse and winner’s share both are the largest in the history of the Indianapolis 500.

It’s the second consecutive year that the Indy 500 purse set a record after the 2022 Indy 500 became the first to crack the $16 million mark (nearly doubling the 2021 purse that offered a purse of $8,854,565 after a crowd limited to 135,000 because of the COVID-19 pandemic).

The average payout for IndyCar drivers was $500,600 (exceeding last year’s average of $485,000).

Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Roger Penske, whose team also fields Newgarden’s No. 2 Dallara-Chevrolet, had made raising purses a priority since buying the track in 2020. But Penske but was unable to post big money purses until the race returned to full capacity grandstands last year.

The largest Indy 500 purse before this year was $14.4 million for the 2008 Indy 500 won by Scott Dixon (whose share was $2,988,065). Ericsson’s haul made him the second Indy 500 winner to top $3 million (2009 winner Helio Castroneves won $3,048,005.

Runner-up Marcus Ericsson won $1.043 million after falling short by 0.0974 seconds in the fourth-closest finish in Indy 500 history.

The 107th Indy 500 drew a crowd of at least 330,000 that was the largest since the sellout for the 100th running in 2016, and the second-largest in more than two decades, according to track officials.

“This is the greatest race in the world, and it was an especially monumental Month of May featuring packed grandstands and intense on-track action,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said in a release. “Now, we have the best end card possible for the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500: a record-breaking purse for the history books.”

Benjamin Pedersen was named the Indy 500 rookie of the year, earning a $50,000 bonus.

The race’s purse is determined through contingency and special awards from IMS and IndyCar. The awards were presented Monday night in the annual Indy 500 Victory Celebration at the JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis.

The payouts for the 107th Indy 500:

1. Josef Newgarden, $3,666,000
2. Marcus Ericsson, $1,043,000
3. Santino Ferrucci, $481,800
4. Alex Palou, $801,500
5. Alexander Rossi, $574,000
6. Scott Dixon, $582,000
7. Takuma Sato, $217,300
8. Conor Daly, $512,000
9. Colton Herta, $506,500
10. Rinus VeeKay, $556,500
11. Ryan Hunter‐Reay, $145,500
12. Callum Ilott, $495,500
13. Devlin DeFrancesco, $482,000
14. Scott McLaughlin, $485,000
15. Helio Castroneves, $481,500
16. Tony Kanaan, $105,000
17. Marco Andretti, $102,000
18. Jack Harvey, $472,000
19. Christian Lundgaard, $467,500
20. Ed Carpenter, $102,000
21. Benjamin Pedersen (R), $215,300
22. Graham Rahal, $565,500*
23. Will Power, $488,000
24. Pato O’Ward, $516,500
25. Simon Pagenaud, $465,500
26. Agustín Canapino (R), $156,300
27. Felix Rosenqvist, $278,300
28. Kyle Kirkwood, $465,500
29. David Malukas, $462,000
30. Romain Grosjean, $462,000
31. Sting Ray Robb (R), $463,000
32. RC Enerson (R), $103,000
33. Katherine Legge, $102,000

*–Broken down between two teams, $460,000 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, $105,500 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports