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Power snatches fastest time from Franchitti in opening practice session in Sao Paulo

Will Power snatched the fastest time away from Dario Franchitti in the closing seconds of the IndyCar Series' opening practice session in Sao Paulo

In mostly dry conditions in Brazil, Ganassi driver Franchitti looked like he had done enough to end the morning on top with a 1m22.3953s lap.

But his 2010 and '11 title rival Will Power (Penske) demoted him with a 1m22.3875s - just 0.0078 seconds quicker - as the chequered flag flew.

Franchitti's team-mate Scott Dixon took third despite sitting out the first part of the session and later having to pit with a damaged tyre.

Simon Pagenaud continued his excellent form the Schmidt-Hamilton team with fourth place, ahead of Long Beach qualifying star Josef Newgarden (Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing), as four Honda-powered cars followed Chevrolet-engined pacesetter Power.

A quartet of Chevrolets were next up, with top local Helio Castroneves (Penske) in sixth, then Andretti duo Ryan Hunter-Reay and Marco Andretti sandwiching Panther's JR Hildebrand.

James Jakes took an impressive 10th for Dale Coyne Racing, while his team-mate Justin Wilson had led most of the opening half hour, reserved for rookies and drivers outside the top 10 in the championship.

The session saw two red flags, the first after Oriol Servia's Dreyer & Reinbold car - starting its final event with Lotus power - stopped on course, and the second when Ganassi's Graham Rahal slid into the tyres.

Sebastien Bourdais was the fastest Lotus runner in 19th for Dragon Racing.

Series returnee Ana Beatriz took 21st on her debut in Andretti Autosport's additional fourth car.

Pos  Driver               Team/Car                      Time        Gap
 1.  Will Power           Penske DW12-Chevy             1m22.3875s
 2.  Dario Franchitti     Ganassi DW12-Honda            1m22.3953s  + 0.0078s
 3.  Scott Dixon          Ganassi DW12-Honda            1m22.7862s  + 0.3987s
 4.  Simon Pagenaud       Schmidt DW12-Honda            1m22.8190s  + 0.4315s
 5.  Josef Newgarden      Fisher DW12-Honda             1m22.8774s  + 0.4899s
 6.  Helio Castroneves    Penske DW12-Chevy             1m23.0390s  + 0.6515s
 7.  Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti DW12-Chevy           1m23.0434s  + 0.6559s
 8.  JR Hildebrand        Panther DW12-Chevy            1m23.0985s  + 0.7110s
 9.  Marco Andretti       Andretti DW12-Chevy           1m23.1406s  + 0.7531s
10.  James Jakes          Dale Coyne DW12-Honda         1m23.1655s  + 0.7780s
11.  James Hinchcliffe    Andretti DW12-Chevy           1m23.2038s  + 0.8163s
12.  Rubens Barrichello   KV DW12-Chevy                 1m23.2890s  + 0.9015s
13.  Tony Kanaan          KV DW12-Chevy                 1m23.3308s  + 0.9433s
14.  Ryan Briscoe         Penske DW12-Chevy             1m23.3647s  + 0.9772s
15.  Justin Wilson        Dale Coyne DW12-Honda         1m23.3666s  + 0.9791s
16.  EJ Viso              KV DW12-Chevy                 1m23.6634s  + 1.2759s
17.  Mike Conway          Foyt DW12-Honda               1m23.6999s  + 1.3124s
18.  Charlie Kimball      Ganassi DW12-Honda            1m23.7520s  + 1.3645s
19.  Sebastien Bourdais   Dragon DW12-Lotus             1m24.0442s  + 1.6567s
20.  Takuma Sato          Rahal DW12-Honda              1m24.1547s  + 1.7672s
21.  Ana Beatriz          Andretti DW12-Chevy           1m24.1665s  + 1.7790s
22.  Graham Rahal         Ganassi DW12-Honda            1m24.5634s  + 2.1759s
23.  Simona de Silvestro  HVM DW12-Lotus                1m24.6815s  + 2.2940s
24.  Oriol Servia         Dreyer & Reinbold DW12-Lotus  1m24.8492s  + 2.4617s
25.  Ed Carpenter         Carpenter DW12-Chevy          1m25.0994s  + 2.7119s
26.  Katherine Legge      Dragon DW12-Lotus             1m26.0529s  + 3.6654s

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