Chicago: Brazil’s Tony Kanaan turned the fastest lap in Friday’s final practice session for today’s 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 with Canadian pole sitter James Hinchcliffe clocking in 12th overall.
Kanaan, the 2013 Indy 500 winner, circled the 4-km Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval at 226.280mph (364.162kph) in 39.7738 seconds on the 28th of his 42 practice laps.
“We had a pretty good session,” Kanaan said. “I’m very happy with my race car. We can do this. We’re ready to go.”
All 33 starters tested their cars over a combined 1,369 laps in the one-hour session with Chevrolet-powered Kanaan, 41, set to begin on the outside of the sixth row.
Second behind Kanaan in the session was Colombian Carlos Munoz at 224.772mph using a Honda engine.
New Zealand’s Scott Dixon, the 2008 Indy 500 winner and reigning IndyCar series champion, was third in the session at 224.606mph followed by Australian Will Power at 224.384mph, 2014 Indy 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay of the US at 224.327mph and US rookie Alexander Rossi at 224.276mph.
Hunter-Reay will start on the outside of row one beside compatriot Townsend Bell, whose fast lap on Friday of 223.971mph ranked ninth overall, and Hinchcliffe, who reached 223.925mph in race-day conditions after claiming the pole with a lap at 230.760mph.
“It was the best it has been,” Hinchcliffe said of his car. “Every time we get in traffic it was getting better and better.”
Frenchman Simon Pagenaud, who has won the past three IndyCar races but all of them on road courses, ranked 22nd in practice at 222.581mph. Pagenaud, who starts in the center of row three, tops the season points table with 242, 76 more than second-place Dixon.