Will the fastest Indy 500 lap speeds ever be topped? IndyCar drivers weigh in
INDIANAPOLIS -- Speeds have been ramping up at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in preparation for the Indy 500 on Sunday.
The 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500 saw multiple milestones in the qualifying rounds, including Alex Palou's fastest pole-winning average speed of 234.217 mph, the fastest front row with a 234.180 mph average, and the fastest overall field at a 232.184 mph average.
Takuma Sato set the fastest one-lap speed so far of Indy500 practice, running the 2.5-mile oval at 234.753 mph -- fastest since 1996.
But those speeds, even from the fastest field in Indy 500 history, aren't close to the fastest laps recorded in the Indy 500. Eddie Cheever had the fastest single-lap speed at 236.103 mph in the 1996 race. Arie Luyendyk holds the fastest qualifying average of 236.986 mph, also set in 1996.
More: Here are the five fastest races in Indy 500 history
So, will a driver ever top the record speeds at the Indy 500?
"Probably," Romain Grosjean said. "I mean, records are made here to be broken. Probably. There were some very strong laps out there, rules have changed, cars are different."
Indy cars are going through another change next season, as all drivers will be running with new engines for 2024. Currently, Indy cars are using a 2.2 liter, twin-turbocharged V-6 powerplant engines. That will change to a 2.4-liter, twin-turbocharged V-6 engine with hybrid technology next season.
According to IndyCar, the hybrid engines will boost the horsepower from 800 to 900. That extra horsepower could boost the cars to new speeds, defending champion Marcus Ericsson said.
"It all depends on the new engines, what they will do," Ericsson said Thursday. "It should be more power, but also more weight, so that ratio is going to depend a lot on that. I think 234 (mph), like what we did this year, is pretty fast."
Anything is possible, but it still needs to balance with safety, Sato said.
The IndyCar series avoided a crash for almost the entire month of May until Monday, when Katherine Legge ran into the back of Stefan Wilson's car during practice. Both cars crashed into the side barrier, and Wilson was ruled out of the race with a fractured 12th vertebrae.
Recovering: 'The recovery journey starts now': Stefan Wilson optimistic after surgery on fractured vertebrae
"I think anything is possible," Sato said. "The numbers we've been getting in terms of downforce and horsepower, and with regression, we've been restricted. If you're putting a load-force boost, we could essentially go about 240 miles per hour easily. We could do it, but for the sake of safety and the design for IMS, we try to take a balance between excitement and safety.
"But it is always great to see the big numbers."
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indy 500: Drivers weigh in on if the fastest lap speed will be topped
