INDIANAPOLIS — Former Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson and rookie Linus Lundqvist had been concerned in separate crashes throughout a busy day of follow Thursday, leaving their groups with a number of additional work forward of qualifying this weekend.

Ericsson, who was handed by Josef Newgarden on the final lap a yr in the past making an attempt to defend his 2022 title, touched the curb on the backside of the observe going by Turns 3 and 4. That shot him into the surface wall, the place his automobile sustained heavy harm on the left-hand facet, earlier than the No. 28 from Andretti World skidded to a relaxation on the entrance to pit lane.

The 33-year-old from Sweden crashed with about two hours left in what had been the primary dry follow all week; rain quickly started to fall for the third consecutive day, preserving drivers off the observe till the final half-hour of the session.

“I feel we had been in fine condition,” Ericsson mentioned, “however clearly you’ve an enormous crash like this, it units every part again to zero.”

Earlier within the day, Lundqvist made the same mistake going by Turns 1 and a couple of, taking pictures into the surface wall within the first wreck of Indy 500 preparations. The No. 8 entry from Chip Ganassi Racing sustained heavy harm to the precise rear earlier than skidding throughout the observe and thru the grass, the place it lastly got here to a cease.

“It is my mistake. I do know precisely what I did,” mentioned Lundqvist, who had posted the quickest four-lap common of the follow at 224.994 mph. “I touched the curb in 2 and I could not maintain onto it. It is one thing that you simply discuss usually round this place, however it’s only a mistake on my half and clearly the staff pays the value for it.”

Whereas Ericsson seemed to be headed for a backup automobile, Lundqvist’s crew was making an attempt to place his broken automobile again collectively.

“It goes so quick, particularly while you’re down there and also you understand the place you are at. It is form of too late,” Lundqvist mentioned. “It is a small mistake. Simple to occur. However clearly, huge penalties.”

Ganassi is chasing a sixth Indy 500 win with 5 vehicles making an attempt to qualify. That features three rookies – Lundqvist, Marcus Armstrong and Kyffin Simpson – together with 2008 winner Scott Dixon and two-time collection champion Alex Palou.

Rain washed out Tuesday and most of Wednesday, and extra was within the forecast for Friday, leaving the 34 drivers making an attempt to make the 33-car area for the 108th operating of “The Biggest Spectacle in Racing” squeezing in as many laps as doable.

Pato O’Ward put Chevrolet-powered Arrow McLaren atop the charts, turning a lap of 228.861 mph. Scott McLaughlin was once more quick for Staff Penske, whereas Palou was third and the quickest among the many Honda-powered vehicles.

Santino Ferrucci, who has by no means completed exterior the highest 10 in 5 Indy 500 begins, and A.J. Foyt Racing had been amongst these left scrambling on the finish of one other shortened follow. Ferrucci mentioned his automobile was unfastened to the purpose that it was harmful, and even after a collection of modifications, the staff’s engineers had been nonetheless making an attempt to diagnose the issue.

“We will not afford to essentially put one within the wall,” Ferrucci mentioned. “We’re making an attempt to determine what it’s. We have made a bunch of modifications to make it safer (and) we made it looser. We have got an enormous hill forward of us proper now.”

NASCAR star Kyle Larson, making an attempt to turn out to be the fifth driver in historical past to try the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the identical day, spent a lot of Thursday’s follow session out of the race automobile as his Arrow McLaren staff tinkered with setups.

Larson lastly made some laps in qualifying trim with a few hours left in follow.

“We will go get dinner tonight and simply form of loosen up,” Larson mentioned. “It is actually been actually stress-free right here. There’s probably not any logistics craziness that occurs till this weekend, after which subsequent weekend. It is all been high quality.”