Marco Andretti edged Helio Castroneves to claim the quickest time at Indianpolis Motor Speedway as practice for the Indy 500 reached the end of its third day.
Both drivers tipped into the 225mph range for the first time this year, with Andretti taking the honours with a 225.100mph average, just 0.025mph quicker than the time set by three-time Indy winner Castroneves.
Andretti said that the five-strong Andretti Autosport team was using its numbers to its advantage in trying to simulate racing conditions as closely as possible.
“Obviously it helps when you can simulate a mini-race, so we had that luxury and we’ve been taking full advantage of it,” he said.
“Personally, I feel like that’s how the Ganassis beat us last year.
“It was the first year for me that pole was in reach, so I got too fascinated with just how fast would the car go instead of getting the proper car underneath [me] for the race.”
Castroneves, meanwhile, said that at this early point, the Penske team is looking after its engines and sticking to its practice programme.
“We are kind of managing mileage on the engine, so yesterday we did not run,” he said.
“Right now we’re trying to follow the schedule. We’re not worried about the result. I dream about becoming a four-time winner, but you have to work before you achieve your dreams. And that’s what we’re going to do.”
Better conditions resulted in faster times across the board, with eight drivers going quicker than the 223.023mph benchmark laid down on Sunday by rookie Carlos Munoz.
Among the drivers taking to the track for the first time were Briton Pippa Mann, who completed her veteran refresher in the third Dale Coyne entry before going on to run a total of 29 laps, and Conor Daly, who arrived from racing in GP3 at Barcelona over the weekend to tick off his rookie orientation programme in the second AJ Foyt car.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Marco Andretti Andretti Dallara-Chevy 39.9823s 2. Helio Castroneves Penske Dallara-Chevy 39.9866s + 0.0043s 3. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Dallara-Chevy 40.1095s + 0.1272s 4. Will Power Penske Dallara-Chevy 40.2173s + 0.2350s 5. JR Hildebrand Panther Dallara-Chevy 40.2462s + 0.2639s 6. Takuma Sato Foyt Dallara-Honda 40.2391s + 0.3108s 7. AJ Allmendinger Penske Dallara-Chevy 40.3111s + 0.3288s 8. James Hinchcliffe Andretti Dallara-Chevy 40.3452s + 0.3629s 9. Tony Kanaan KV Dallara-Chevy 40.3890s + 0.4067s 10. Josef Newgarden Fisher Dallara-Honda 40.4785s + 0.4962s 11. Carlos Munoz Andretti Dallara-Chevy 40.4969s + 0.5146s 12. Oriol Servia Panther DRR Dallara-Chevy 40.5280s + 0.5457s 13. Alex Tagliani Herta Dallara-Honda 40.5497s + 0.5674s 14. Justin Wilson Coyne Dallara-Honda 40.5752s + 0.5629s 15. Charlie Kimball Ganassi Dallara-Honda 40.5770s + 0.5947s 16. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt Dallara-Honda 40.5946s + 0.6123s 17. Simona de Silvestro KV Dallara-Chevy 40.6114s + 0.6291s 18. Ryan Briscoe Ganassi Dallara-Honda 40.6263s + 0.6440s 19. EJ Viso Andretti Dallara-Chevy 40.6780s + 0.6957s 20. Ed Carpenter Carpenter Dallara-Chevy 40.6957s + 0.7134s 21. Townsend Bell Panther Dallara-Chevy 40.6987s + 0.7164s 22. Dario Franchitti Ganassi Dallara-Honda 40.8072s + 0.8249s 23. Pippa Mann Coyne Dallara-Honda 40.8163s + 0.8340s 24. Scott Dixon Ganassi Dallara-Honda 40.8313s + 0.8490s 25. Graham Rahal Rahal Dallara-Honda 40.8423s + 0.8600s 26. Ana Beatriz Coyne Dallara-Honda 40.9137s + 0.9314s 27. Sebastien Bourdais Dragon Dallara-Chevy 41.0026s + 1.0203s 28. Conor Daly Foyt Dallara-Honda 41.0877s + 1.1054s 29. Sebastian Saavedra Dragon Dallara-Chevy 41.1649s + 1.1826s 30. James Jakes Rahal Dallara-Honda 41.2181s + 1.2358s 31. Tristan Vautier Schmidt Dallara-Honda 41.3686s + 1.3863s
