Armstrong sets the early pace in Indy 500 practice

Marcus Armstrong led the first half of Tuesday’s opening practice session for the 110th Indianapolis 500.

The New Zealander produced a tow-assisted best of 225.895mph in the No. 66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda to lead Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s Conor Daly in the No. 24 Chevy (225.838mph) and Team Penske’s David Malukas in the No. 12 Chevy (223.845mph).

The six-hour session got under way with approximately one-third of the 33-car field ready to roll when the green flag waved at 12pm ET. Drama didn’t wait for ECR co-owner and driver Ed Carpenter, who suffered an engine failure on his installation lap and was sidelined for three hours as a fresh twin-turbo V6 Chevrolet was installed.

After one hour, Daly led the group ahead of Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward and Armstrong, who soon moved to the front and hold that top spot as 3pm arrived.

Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood held first on the no-tow list in thew No. 27 Honda (222.062mph) ahead of teammate Will Power in the No. 26 Honda (221.455mph) and Harvey (220.853mph).

The session runs until 6pm.