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Takuma Sato quickest as rain leads to quiet opening IndyCar practice in Detroit

Takuma Sato topped a wet opening practice session for this weekend's IndyCar race on Detroit's Belle Isle street circuit

The Rahal Letterman Lanigan driver, who crashed while attempting to pass Dario Franchitti for the lead on the final lap of last weekend's Indianapolis 500, managed a best lap of 1m28.4739s on a track covered with standing water after several hours of rain.

Only seven drivers set a time, with KV Racing's Rubens Barrichello finishing 0.3 seconds off Sato's benchmark in second place.

Justin Wilson (Dale Coyne Racing) completed a hat-trick of former Formula 1 drivers at the top of the timing screens by going third-quickest, although he also brought the session to a premature end when he hit the Turn 5 tyres with a couple of minutes remaining.

James Hinchcliffe (Andretti Autosport), Simona de Silvestro (HVM Racing), Simon Pagenaud (Schmidt Hamilton) and Sebastien Bourdais (Dragon Racing) were the only other drivers to do any running, while a handful of others completed installation laps. No drivers from the Penske or Ganassi camps ventured out of pitlane.

Pos  Driver               Team/Car                 Time        Gap
 1.  Takuma Sato          Rahal DW12-Honda         1m28.4739s
 2.  Rubens Barrichello   KV DW12-Chevrolet        1m28.8431s  + 0.3692s
 3.  Justin Wilson        Dale Coyne DW12-Honda    1m29.5754s  + 1.1015s
 4.  James Hinchcliffe    Andretti DW12-Chevrolet  1m29.6229s  + 1.1490s
 5.  Simona de Silvestro  HVM DW12-Lotus           1m30.9445s  + 2.4706s
 6.  Simon Pagenaud       Schmidt DW12-Honda       1m31.4855s  + 3.0116s
 7.  Sebastien Bourdais   Dragon DW12-Chevrolet    1m32.5644s  + 4.0905s

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