Rookie Nolan Siegel flips during Indy 500 Fast Friday practice
Trouble for 19-year-old Nolan Siegel at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The IndyCar rookie went for a flip in the Indy 500 practice session. Siegel is among the group of rookies that includes NASCAR star Kyle Larson in this year’s field.
Fast Friday is all about getting dialed in for qualifying. These drivers are flying on the track, with a few reaching over 240 MPH for brief moments. Nolan Siegel had a lot of work to do to get his speed up to par with the majority of the field.
During his run with just over four hours to go in the Indy 500 practice session, Siegel found himself wrecking into the outside wall. He didn’t come off the turn cleanly and paid the price. Soon, he was sideways and the car was in the air, flipping.
Thankfully, it didn’t flip all the way over, landed on its side and Siegel was just fine. At least, he was able to radio in that he was okay and was later released from the care center.
Fast Friday is when these cars really get up to speed. They are allowed to run the turbochargers that will be in the cars during qualifying runs. Speeds are high and so is the risk as drivers try to get every little bit out of their cars.
Every thousandth of a second matters. It can be the difference between making it or going home on Bump Day. Making the Indy 500 is a dream for many of these drivers. There are 34 cars for 33 spots, someone will go home.
Kyle Larson learning during Indy 500 practice
Earlier this week, rain plagued the proceedings at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. On Thursday, things cleared up, but Kyle Larson was largely sidelined for the practice session. Due to an engine swap and then changing over from race trim to qualifying trim, Larson was standing on pit road a lot.
It was enough for him to call his day “boring and frustrating.” While I’m sure Indianapolis Motor Speedway has frustrated many drivers over the years, few have ever been “bored” I’m sure.
“Yeah I thought the weather was going to be good, I’d get lots of laps today and everyone else is turning laps except me,” Larson said to NBC Sports. “It’s been a bit boring and frustrating but uh – yeah just finishing swapping over to q-sim or whatever that entails. Then just go out there make some laps see what kind of speed we have.
“I’m not sure what they’re [the team] trying to learn or what they learned from qualifying, sim stuff. Hopefully, there is something I can take away from it and just get familiar with cockpit adjustments and all of that throughout a qualifying run. That’s what I’m looking to take out of it.”
Well, it appears to have worked out just fine. With three and a half hours left in the Fast Friday session, Kyle Larson sits P7 in the four-lap average. He is also top-10 in single-lap speed. He’s learning with every lap and every adjustment.