Indianapolis 500 practice 3 notebook: Pato O'Ward fastest as he searches for first 500 win

Pato O'Ward has a pair of heartbreaking runner-up finishes to his name in the Indianapolis 500, but his quest for his first victory in the race got slightly easier on Thursday. 

O'Ward topped the speed chart in the third of seven practice sessions ahead of the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 24, laying down a fastest lap of 39.59 seconds/227.308 miles per hour around the 2.5-mile venue. 

"It was a smooth day," O'Ward said Thursday evening. "We got some race running, qualifying simulations in. The car is in a good balance window. Tomorrow when the boosts come up, it does change quite a bit. Yeah, so far it's been very smooth."

Qualifying begins on Saturday, with the fastest 15 drivers duking it out to make the top 12 before running for the pole on Sunday. Friday's practice will see teams have approximately 100 extra horsepower due to work with due to increased boost levels as they make their mock qualifying runs.

Four-time 500 winner Helio Castroneves was second-fastest, with Marcus Armstrong, Felix Rosenqvist and 2016 winner Alexander Rossi rounding out the top five. Sting Ray Robb, rookie Caio Collet, Romain Grosjean, 2008 winner Scott Dixon and Ed Carpenter completed the top 10. 

Other notable drivers included Scott McLaughlin in 12th, Kyle Kirkwood in 14th, rookie Dennis Hauger in 15th, two-time winner Takuma Sato in 17th and David Malukas in 20th. 2018 winner Will Power was 21st, defending winner Alex Palou was 22nd and two-time winner Josef Newgarden was 23rd. 

Katherine Legge, who is running the Indianapolis-Charlotte "Double" on May 24, was 24th on the speed chart. 

Christian Rasmussen was last (33rd), with a quickest lap of only 40.56 seconds/221.890 mph. 

Castroneves is optimistic about his car and its speed going into Fast Friday.

"I feel good," Castroneves said. "I feel like we've got to work a little bit out. Certainly watching other competitors going out, they seem to be as well few miles fast, but once you put in a different range of torque in the engine, who knows what's going to happen?"

Even in a one-off IndyCar race, Castroneves clearly still has the ability to be quick behind the wheel of a race car. 

"What motivates me, when I did my last lap on the open test, I went out on the back straight, and I was like, 'oh, I love this. This is the best feeling in the world.'

"Even if I stay one year without being in the seat, I was worried about, you know, I'm going to be feeling a little uncomfortable. It was like a glove. So that keeps me coming back, and because of the opportunity that we have, it's so unique and so incredible, I feel that we can't just pass that along. We've got to keep it going."

O'Ward, like Castroneves, was cautiously optimistic when asked about his outlook for Friday. 

"We'll see what we've got tomorrow," O'Ward said. "Hopefully it will be good enough to have our first run in a high boost in the window to just pepper it in a little bit. So far it's been good and smooth."

Fast Friday practice will begin at noon ET Tuesday, with coverage on FS2 from noon-3 p.m. ET and 5-6 p.m. ET. Television coverage will switch to FS1 from 3-5 p.m. ET,  with the IndyCar Radio Network carrying the entire day of practice. 

Quotes provided by IndyCar Media.