Brabham gets into Indy 500 groove

Australian rookie Matt Brabham has made the most of a second full day of practice to prepare himself for next weekend’s Indianapolis 500.

The 22-year-old, who will make his Indy 500 debut as part of the Australian-backed Pirtek Team Murray outfit, completed 126 laps of the 2.5 mile Indianapolis Speedway on Thursday (AEST).

That tally was more than any other driver in the 33-car field.

Brabham – the grandson of three-time Formula One world champion Sir Jack Brabham – posted a best speed of 223.206m/h (359.376km/h).

That speed was the 27th overall for the day but the 10th fastest “no-tow speed” where a driver is unassisted by the slipstream of another car.

“Running in the pack is a lot more hairy, but I felt okay,” Brabham said.

“There’s some work to do on my side of just learning how to time things right and run in traffic – and I think there’s a lot we can improve on the car to help that.

“For the rest of the week, getting me up to speed in this area is going to be one of our main goals and of course making sure our race car is to the top level.”

Practice continues with two more sessions over the next two days ahead of qualifying for the 100th running of the iconic 500-mile race.

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