Kanaan still on top at Sebring

Kanaan replaced rookie teammate Hideki Mutoh atop the speed chart with 15 minutes left in Tuesday's test session at Sebring International Raceway, then topped his own mark with the final lap of the day.

Kanaan was clocked at 52.8609 seconds - 113.732 mph - in the No. 11 Andretti Green Racing Honda/Dallara around the 1.7-mile section of the famous road course to give himself the distinction of leading both days of his portion of the test.

Another group of IndyCars will begin testing at the track Wednesday, and Kanaan predicts his lap at the end of Tuesday's session will be long gone by Thursday.

"Come back here on Thursday and I'll bet they'll be a full second faster than I was," Kanaan said. "The track just gets better and better. The temperature was perfect today, and the car got better as the day went on.

"There's always a tendency to go quicker during the end of the day. It can be the weather, or the car, or the track. We weren't doing any qualifying simulations or anything. The car was just fast all day long."

Mutoh, the Japanese rookie who replaced Dario Franchitti in the No. 27 AGR Honda/Dallara, held the top spot for most of the day after posting a lap of 52.9513 seconds.

"We were trying to find more traction for St. Petersburg," Mutoh said. "That's the main thing we were working on, and I think we found a good direction. The results of the test are a good sign for us."

Following Kanaan and Mutoh on the board was another AGR car, the No. 26 driven by Marco Andretti. A.J. Foyt IV was fourth-fastest in the No. 2 Vision Racing Honda/Dallara, followed by Rahal Letterman Racing's Ryan Hunter-Reay.

The four teams participating in the Monday and Tuesday tests completed an enormous amount of work, using Tuesday's seven hours of track time to their advantage. Led by Ed Carpenter's 245 laps, the ten drivers totaled more than 1,600 laps during the two days of testing.

On Wednesday, the rest of the IndyCar field, including Team Penske and Target Chip Ganassi Racing, will get time on the track. At that time, veteran Townsend Bell is expected to join Dreyer & Reinbold's lineup of Buddy Rice and Milka Duno.

The IndyCar Series opener is scheduled March 29 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The teams are using the Sebring test as preparation for the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on April 6.