SPEEDWAY (May 18, 2022) – The opening round of practice runs for the 106th running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race was greeted by beautiful sunny skies and the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing pair of Sage Karam and Santino Ferrucci wasted little time getting up to speed quickly.
Rolling out just past 9 a.m. EDT, Karam, in the No. 24 DRR AES Indiana Chevrolet, and Ferrucci, in the No. 23 DRR Palermo’s Screaming Sicilian Pizza Chevrolet, jumped to the top of the speed charts early in the first two-hour practice session after taking a solid two-day test in April at the famed 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval.
Ferrucci started the fast speeds with a 225.362 miles per hour clocking in the first hour and posted the top speed for nearly one hour. And Karam jumped to No. 4 on the IMS pylon at 225.106 m.p.h.
Later in the morning round, Sage jumped to third at 226.398 m.p.h. with Santino listed as sixth. Karam clocked 52 laps in the morning with Ferrucci at 50.
In the warmer afternoon session, both drivers worked in traffic through the field and, overall, Karam was 8th and Ferrucci 19th in the combined speed chart.
“It was a good day for our team as we backed up a lot of things we discovered in April at the test,” said Dennis Reinbold, DRR team owner. “We feel pretty good about our platform overall. We still have few items to sort out overnight, and we’ll put a few finishing touches on the process we are making. We’re moving in the direction we want right now.”
“We had a pretty solid start for the No. 24 AES Indiana Chevy today (Tuesday),” said Karam. “And also, for the No. 23 team too. This morning we got out and showed some speed. Those two days of testing in April really helped us prepare for this week at IMS. Both of our DRR cars are very similar, and we worked through our test plan today. The conditions were harder in the afternoon with heat on the track. The car felt pretty decent in traffic. The car was good in traffic last year in the race and we are improving on that setup too. Last year, I was fourth on the first day of practice, but I didn’t feel as comfortable in the car as I did today. So, overall, it was a good day for us.”
“This morning was fantastic as I was very pleased with the setup of the car,” said Ferrucci. “Conditions were good in the morning. This afternoon, things heated up on the track surface, but we were able to make some head wind on the direction for the rest of the week. We need a few little issues and we brought the car to check it over. It’s our first practice session in May and we want to take our time. Make sure we don’t have a hang ups the rest of the week. We made a good transition from the April test to today’s (Tuesday) runs. The track temperature jumped up to 130 (degrees) which is similar to race day. But we are two weeks out from race day, so we can’t predict race conditions right now.”
Karam and Ferrucci will be back in action Wednesday, May 18, when practice rounds resume at 12 p.m. EDT. Qualifying for the 106th Indianapolis 500 is set for this Saturday, May 21, and Sunday, May 22. The 200-lap Classic will begin at 12:45 p.m. on Sunday, May 29.
About Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing was founded in 1999 by Indianapolis car dealer Dennis Reinbold. The legacy of the Dreyer and Reinbold family dates back to the 1920s with Reinbold’s grandfather, the legendary Floyd “Pop” Dreyer, a former factory motorcycle racer. Dreyer served as a crewman and mechanic on the famed Duesenberg driven by Benny Shoaff and Babe Stapp in the 1927 Indy 500. Dreyer went on to build Indy 500 cars in the 1930s which many started on the front row. In addition, Dreyer constructed championship-winning sprint cars and midgets as well as quarter midgets called Dreyerettes. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing captured its first win in 2000 with driver Robbie Buhl at Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando, Fla., and has fielded a variety of drivers including Buhl, Buddy Lazier, Sarah Fisher, Buddy Rice, Al Unser Jr., Sage Karam and J.R. Hildebrand. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing has successfully qualified all 43 drivers for the Indy 500 in its history. DRR, who competed in the Rallycross for the first time in 2015, captured the 2016 Lites rallycross championship.
