By Austin Lawton, Staff Writer
When the checkered flag flew on Day Two of the 2026 Indianapolis 500 Open Test, it was rookie Caio Collet at the top of the charts with a 226.381 mph lap.
Collet, an Indy 500 and IndyCar rookie, showed consistent speed across both Tuesday and Wednesday in his A.J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet. Collet set his speed in the morning session on Wednesday and continued to get comfortable running the car in traffic as the day progressed.
“The car was good all day long,” Collet said. “I need to learn how to manage traffic and work with my tools here, and, especially the racing line, where to lift and how to anticipate everything, because everything is just bigger in Indy. I think I will have a lot of learning in the next couple weeks, analyzing what I have to do better, but I have a really good group of people behind me.”
Collet ended the afternoon session in eighth place (223.194mph) in a session that saw Josef Newgarden go fastest at 225.617mph. The two-time “500” champion was second fastest in the morning session (226.223 mph), breaking the 226 mph-barrier along with Collet.
“This is just the first step towards coming back here next month and trying to win another Indianapolis 500,” Newgarden said. “We have a good base to come back with. It was a pretty clean day for the Shell Fuel Rewards Chevy team and it’s always nice to see your number towards the top of the pylon. Team Chevy brought good power once again. It is a long month to get to the race but we are in a good place leaving the test.”
Conor Daly was fastest on Tuesday and showed consistent speed again on Wednesday. Daly put his Dreyer and Reinbold Chevrolet in third place across both sessions on Wednesday, setting down a 225.215 mph mark in the morning session.
Daly, a contender for the “500” win last year, commended the DRR crew on their hard work over the winter to build a great car for the Noblesville, IN native.
“Today was a bit more of an up-and-down roller coaster than it looked like,” Daly explained at the end of the day. “The fact that every time we were out there, the car was fast, means we have a naturally fast car. The team did a good job over the winter. I think the evening session here was actually a lot of fun. It was kind of the first two runs that I got, really in traffic and running with Pato [O’Ward] and Santino [Ferrucci], that I felt we were really competitive.”
Alex Palou (225.272 mph) and Helio Castroneves (225.200) closed out the top five on the combined Day Two speed charts.
SEE: 2026 Indy 500 Open Test Combined two-day Results
There were 4,697 laps turned on Wednesday, with all 33 cars turning laps. Katherine Legge completed her Veteran Refresher Program, while getting a better feel of the No.11 e.l.f. Cosmetics A.J. Foyt/HMD Motorsports entry. Legge’s fastest lap of 219.841 mph came on Lap 41 of her 49 total laps run in the evening session.
There was only one major incident across the two-day test, when Jack Harvey’s DRR Chevrolet went up in smoke exiting Turn 4. Harvey ended the test on top of the no-tow charts with the 221.112 mph mark from Tuesday afternoon.
““I had a little bit of a hesitation at the exit of Turn 3,” Harvey told FOX Sports’ Georgia Henneberry. “I looked down and looked at the mirrors and saw the smoke immediately. I’ve had engines that have had issues here in the past and when it happens, it’s normally very obvious. What happened then and the amount of smoke and a few flickering flames coasting in is not how we wanted to end the day. I still think overall, it’s been a productive test. We’re going to miss out on a bit of race running, but luckily we get plenty of days leading up to the (Indianapolis) 500. It’s probably too early to figure out exactly what it is. It’s a super unfortunate thing but on the whole, I’ve had two days driving around at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and that’s super cool. That puts on the back foot a tiny bit from what we could have done this afternoon. That’s a few test items we’ll roll into the start of practice. It’s just one of those things, it’s racing.”