INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Brickyard seems to be doubling as a wildlife sanctuary during Indianapolis 500 testing.
One day after French driver Romain Grosjean's car hit and killed a bird as it topped 200 mph at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, two-time Indy 500 champ Takuma Sato barely avoided a collision with a fox when the animal ran across the track on Wednesday. Sato then posted the fourth-fastest lap in afternoon testing at 225.109.
“Oh geez, yes, I couldn't identify what it was, but I could see there was something in there,” the Japanese driver said. “It wasn't a car part because it was moving. It was more like a natural thing and it was right in the middle of the corner. But very fortunate we both come back home happy.”
Sato did better than safely navigate the obstacle in his return to racing following a six-month absence. He hasn't competed in an IndyCar race since last year's Indy 500.
But the surprise guest — for Sato and everyone else at the historic 2.5-mile oval — brought out the first of two unscheduled caution flags on the second and final day of open testing for next month's race.
The other came with about 90 minutes left in the session, when Jack Harvey's No. 24 Chevrolet left a trail of smoke as it went around the track and into pit lane. The English driver's team spent the rest of the day trying to figure out what went wrong.
“I've had engines that have had issues here in the past and when it happens, it's normally very obvious what happened,” said Harvey, who races part-time while also working as a television commentator. “But the amount of smoke we were getting and then just a few flickering flames as we kind of coasted in, that's not how we wanted to end the day. But I still think, overall, it's been a pretty productive test.”
Harvey posted the fastest lap in Tuesday's veteran refresher program at 221.154 mph before posting the fastest no-tow lap Tuesday at 220.318. He was 11th heading into the final hour of the second and final day of testing at 221.811.
But after Grosjean's run-in with the bird a day earlier, the fox became Wednesday's featured attraction — even as the speeds steadily ticked up throughout the afternoon.
Two-time Indy winner Josef Newgarden of Team Penske jumped to the top of the speed chart in the final test session with a lap of 225.617. He also had the second-fastest speed in the morning, 226.223.
Points leader and defending Indy champ Alex Palou was next at 225.272 while Conor Daly, Tuesday's fastest driver, was third at 225.215. Brazil's Helio Castroneves began his quest to become the first five-time winner in race history by delivering the fastest no-tow speed at 219.453.
Rookie Cato Collet had the fastest lap in the morning session at 226.381.
“We're fast so that makes life a little easier on me,” said Daly, who works for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, a team that only competes at Indy. “We had a list of things we wanted to do and we got through our list, got through a lot of lists and that's what it's all about. So if we're fast while doing that, then awesome.”
All 33 drivers turned laps on Wednesday. Overnight rain forced the start to be delayed more than an hour, and then drivers had to contend with challenging conditions — cool temperatures and blustery wind on an overcast day. The clouds eventually cleared and testing finished in bright sunshine with series officials permitting drivers to practice pit stops at normal race-day speeds.
Katherine Legge also completed her veteran refresher program — two days after A.J. Foyt Racing announced she would be the team's third driver entered in the race. And everyone took advantage of a second chance to collect data heading into the season's biggest month, capped by the 500 on May 24.
The results seemed to satisfy most people, including Sato, especially after he left the fox in the dust.
“Everybody's very happy and me specifically, back in the car after six months absent and happy place to be,” Sato said. “So, yeah, it's been a very positive two days.”
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
FILE - Takuma Sato, of Japan, speeds down the main straightaway during the Indianapolis 500 auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, May 25, 2025. (AP Photo/AJ Mast, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — The governor of Sinaloa and nine other current and former Mexican officials were charged with drug trafficking and weapons offenses in a U.S. indictment unsealed Wednesday in New York, accused of aiding in the massive importation of illicit narcotics into the United States.
Some officials were members of Mexico's progressive ruling party, Morena, posing a political conundrum for Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum as she seeks to offset mounting pressures from the Trump administration. Some of those politicians called the indictment a political attack on their party.
U.S. federal officials announced the charges in a news release. None of the defendants were in custody, but Mexico's government said shortly afterward that it had received multiple extradition requests from the U.S. without identifying those requested. It did not say how it would respond.
The 10 people charged in Manhattan federal court are current and former government or law enforcement officials in Sinaloa, including Rubén Rocha Moya, 76, who has been governor of Mexico's Sinaloa state since November 2021.
Charges against Moya included narcotics importation conspiracy and possession of machine guns and destructive devices, along with another conspiracy count. If convicted, he could face life in prison or a mandatory minimum of 40 years behind bars.
Rocha was a staunch ally of Sheinbaum's mentor, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The governor enthusiastically backed the ex-president's “Hugs, Not Bullets” policy, which involved avoiding direct confrontation with powerful drug cartels. López Obrador built a political platform by railing against endemic corruption plaguing Mexican politics.
Rocha, the highest profile official charged, said he “categorically and completely rejects” the accusations as baseless and called them an “attack” on Mexico’s ruling party and its leaders.
“It is part of a perverse strategy to violate (Mexico’s) constitutional order, specifically on national sovereignty, ” he wrote in a post on X on Wednesday afternoon. “We will show them that this slander doesn’t have any sort of foundation.”
Some of those named, according to the indictment, have themselves participated in the Sinaloa Cartel's campaign of violence and retribution.
The indictment alleged that they were closely aligned with the Sinaloa Cartel faction known as “Los Chapitos,” which is run by the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the ex-cartel leader now serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison.
Authorities said the defendants played critical roles in helping the cartel ship fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine from Mexico into the U.S. The Sinaloa Cartel is among eight Latin American crime groups designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S. government.
“As the indictment lays bare, the Sinaloa Cartel, and other drug trafficking organizations like it, would not operate as freely or successfully without corrupt politicians and law enforcement officials on their payroll,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said in a release.
The indictment of Rocha, who was born in the same town as “El Chapo”, was particularly notable because the governor was embroiled in a scandal in 2023 involving the Sinaloa Cartel. His name was published in a letter written by a then-Sinaloa Cartel capo who was kidnapped by leaders of a rival faction of the cartel and handed off to law enforcement in the U.S. In the letter, the capo said that when he was kidnapped he believed he was on his way to meet with Rocha.
In the years since, the cartels two warring factions have ravaged the northern Mexican state in their struggle for territorial control.
Among those indicted, at least three officials –- Rocha the mayor of Sinaloa’s capital, and a senator -– were affiliated with Sheinbaum’s party, Morena. A number of other officials held positions unaffiliated with Mexican parties.
It's not the first time the U.S. has brought drug trafficking charges against ranking Mexican officials. In 2023, Genaro García Luna — a former Mexican public security secretary under former President Felipe Calderón — was convicted by a U.S. court and sentenced to 38 years in prison after he was accused of taking bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel. He denied the allegations and is appealing his conviction.
The indictment unsealed Wednesday come after U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ron Johnson last week said that the U.S. administration would launch an anti-corruption campaign targeting Mexican officials he said were linked to organized crime.
"Corruption not only hinders progress, it distorts it. It increases costs, weakens competition, and erodes the trust upon which markets depend. It is not a problem without victims,” Johnson said.
Sheinbaum responded Monday by saying her government has not seen “any evidence” of the charges of corruption.
“Any investigation in the United States against any person in Mexico must have evidence reviewed by the (Mexican) Attorney General’s Office,” Sheinbaum said.
Sheinbaum’s government has already detained several local officials across Mexico in its ongoing crackdown against the cartels, fueled by pressure by the Trump administration.
The indictment has once again forced the Mexican leader to walk a political tightrope, said Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow in foreign policy at the Washington-based Brookings Institution who specializes in organized crime.
If Sheinbaum doesn’t go after Rocha it will put strain on relations with the U.S. ahead of renegotiations of a free-trade agreement with the U.S. crucial to the Mexican economy, the analyst said. If she does arrest him, “it carries tremendous consequences for her politically” ahead of next year’s midterm elections in Mexico.
“Is she going to move to arrest Gov. Rocha and the other eight indicted politicians and attempt to extradite him to the United States? This is certainly what the United States wants,” Felbab-Brown said.
Associated Press writers Megan Janetsky, María Verza and Fabiola Sánchez reported from Mexico City, and AP writer Jennifer Peltz from New York.
FILE - Sinaloa state Gov. Ruben Rocha waves as he takes part in an annual earthquake drill in Culiacan, Mexico, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)
