Pato O'Ward pulls back the curtain on potential Indy 500 pecking order as preparation intensifies

Arrow McLaren star, Pato O'Ward, and the other 33 Indy 500 entrants took to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Indy 500 practice in the third week of May. After the third day of practice, O’Ward gave his insights on the pecking order for the 109th running of the Indy 500 as he commented on the pace of the Andretti Global and Team Penske cars.

The first three days of the Indy 500 practice are majorly dedicated to setting up the car for the race and fine tuning the set up for the same. Although cars simulate the qualifying runs, it isn't accurate as the boost is limited to what is run during the race, and it is only on Friday that the boost pressure will be turned up to exactly simulate the qualifying conditions.

Pato O'Ward sat in front of the media for the post-practice press conference after day 3 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. A reporter suggested that Andretti Global had looked strong around during the Indy 500 and asked for Pato O'Ward’s opinion about the same.

The Arrow McLaren driver commented on Andretti Global’s driver's pace and also brought in Team Penske's performance. The Mexican also compared Arrow McLaren’s pace to Chip Ganassi Racing as he pulled back the curtains on the pecking order.

“Yeah, I think they (Andretti) look very strong both speed-wise and traffic running. I would say at least two in their camp are super strong. Yeah, I would say Kirkwood, Herta. Don't count the Penskes. They're going to have rockets just like they did last year,” said Pato O'Ward

“For us, I don't know. I don't want to assume before we really see what to expect, but Ganassi seems to have taken a step forward as well just from kind of playing around with them in traffic. Yeah, the speed feels a little bit like '22, to be honest, us against Ganassi. It's hard to say right now,” he added

A Team Penske driver topped the timing charts on two of the first three days of Indy 500 practice, with Alex Palou topping Day 2. While Andretti Global hasn't shown outright pace, their driver ran great stints in race trim in traffic.

Pato O'Ward's performance decoded from the first three days of Indy 500 practice

Pato O'Ward finished as the runner-up at last year's Indy 500 after fighting Josef Newgarden in the final laps for the win. The Team Penske driver took the lead going into the final lap and maintained it to win his second Indy 500.

Pato O'Ward came into the Indy 500 with a fresh Outlook, keeping the 2024 disappointment behind him. On day 1 of the practice, the #5 Chevrolet driver finished P29 on the timing sheets as the day was cut short because of inclement weather, and teams got very limited running.

The Mexican improved on Day 2 and finished P20 in the timing sheets with an average speed of 223.101 mph. Practice Day 3 was a big step up for the Mexican, who finished inside the Top 5 in P4 with an average speed of 224.467 mph.