Alonso's test day at Indy

Here's a taste of Wednesday's activity during Fernando Alonso's oval test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

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Mario Andretti offered his thoughts as the No.29 Honda was readied for action:

"It's an exciting day in many ways. One thing that I notice - I don't remember getting this type of attention when I was a rookie here," he joked. "The car's going to have plenty of downforce, and he should be able to go out and feel comfortable pretty quickly, and based on what he learned on the simulator, he's going to start looking for the line and what feels the best entering the corners and the exit. And then he's going to have some questions.

"The wind is not a factor, which can be a big factor, so we're very lucky about that. Should be a very productive day."

2003 Indy 500 winner Gil de Ferran, who has been brought on board to assist Alonso through his superspeedway learning process, has been impressed with Alonso's approach. 

"His success in motorsports doesn't come only from talent," de Ferran said. "He's applying himself a tremendous amount, paying a lot of attention, asking lots of questions, is very intense about everything. And his work ethic is pretty impressive. And he's got intelligence to go with it, too. It's clear to me that he's a very intense man and that he's taking the project very seriously and wants to do well." 

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Marco Andretti shook the car down this morning, running about 10 laps, and described what Alonso should be feeling from the car.

"We ended pretty comfy there. You don't want it to lose too much understeer," Andretti said. "With this level of downforce, this is race downforce. When there's no traffic and you're by yourself it's just stuck. The front and the rear is stuck right now; that's what you want for your first run."

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Alonso completes Phase 1 of rookie orientation. So far during his second phase he's reached as fast as 213.852 (on his second lap). Here's a look at how consistent his lap times have been:

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With 39 laps under his belt, Alonso's run a fast lap of 219.503mph.

Sounds so good! Go Fernando!#AlonsoRunsIndypic.twitter.com/ezr0wM3xfZ— McLarenHondaAndretti (@McLarenIndy)May 3, 2017

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McLaren executive director Zak Brown said McLaren Honda's goal with this venture is a good finish, whether it's a top-10, top-five or the top step.

"We not been able to give him a good racecar this year [in F1], so that's what we want to see at McLaren Honda, is Fernando running at the front, because that's where he's supposed to be," he said. 

Brown also detailed Alonso's state of mind. Unsurprisingly, he's laser-focused.  

"Fernando is so happy to be here," Brown said. "He's been very welcomed by everyone and it's just great to see the camaraderie of the IndyCar Series, and I think that's something you don't get in Formula 1 and I think that's missing. So he's going to enjoy his time here and McLaren's going to enjoy their time.

"He's probably watched 25 Indy 500s. On the plane when we were flying over he watched Ed Carpenter's in-car camera, the entire race, so he's not coming into this thinking it's going to be easy or that the drivers aren't world class. He knows this is every bit as difficult as his Formula 1 challenge. He's coming in very well prepared. And the Indy 500's a tough race, anything can happen."

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“He gets it," team owner Michael Andretti said. "He’s one of the best in the world and you can see why. He watched what he was doing with his line and was changing up lap to lap to get a feel and he had a little bit of understeer that run and he adjusted his line. He’s the real deal; I think he’s going to be really strong this month.”

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Here's a look at Alonso's lap times by stint:

199.595 / 208.569 / 206.632 / 209.883 / 158.674

Break

206.166 / 206.982 / 207.205 / 206.954 / 205.760 / 206.876

Clear of 1st RoP

213.014 / 213.852 / 159.831

OUT

212.694 / 211.952 / 212.369 / 211.984 / 212.423 / 212.722 / 212.926 / 212.926 / 212.979 / 156.633 / 212.111 / 212.893 / 212.885 / 212.831 / 212.616 / 219.495 / 219.503 / 219.379 / 219.344 / 219.145 / 159.267 / 218.947 / 219.654 / 219.416 / 219.204 / 219.308 / 218.975 / 219.239 / 218.917 / 218.863 / 219.324 / 159.968

STEPS OUT

218.006 / 162.075 / 221.720 / 221.584 / 159.682 / 220.892 / 221.721 / 221.236 / 160.277

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With 83 laps in the book, Alonso's fastest lap is a 222.548mph.

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Having used up their alloted tires, Alonso's day appears to be done. He told RACER and NBCSN's Robin Miller that despite what looked like consistent speeds, it wasn't as easy as it looked.

"[It was] not at all [easy]," he said with a laugh. "I was getting up to speed. The circuit looks so narrow when you’re at the speed; when you watch on television or in the simulator everything seems bigger and easier and when you are in the real car it’s very, very narrow, so I was trying different lines and things like that but [I was] really not as comfortable as I will be probably in a couple weeks’ time.

"At the beginning I have to be honest, the right foot, how do you say, [had a mind of its own and] was not connected with my brain, so I wanted to be flat out, but the right foot has its own life. Right now I’m more in control with my body and in control with the car so I’m able to be flat out."

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One more time! Alonso's back on track at 2:40 p.m. ET.

IndyCar's Facebook Live streaming coverage of today's test has attracted more than 1 million views and 800,000 unique viewers.

The attempt is short-lived, though, as the yellow is thrown for light moisture. They try again at 2:52 to work on fuel mapping under caution. 

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Checkered flag. With rain beginning to fall, Alonso's test session comes to an end. 

Click on the thumbnails below for larger images.

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