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Castroneves fastest in Indy 500 practice, Ed Carpenter second

Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves set the fastest speed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in an afternoon practice session disrupted by the threat of lightning

The Penske driver made his racing return to IndyCar at last weekend's Indianapolis road course event, where he finished sixth, ahead of his attempt to win a fourth Indy 500.

Castroneves was able to set the fastest time with and without a tow on track, as IndyCar teams began drafting at Indy for the first time as the field learns how the new 2018 aerodynamic package behaves on the superspeedway in race-like conditions.

The Brazilian set his best lap speed of 224.665mph inside the final hour after running was delayed for half an hour due to lightning in the vicinity of the track, adding to earlier brief delays for spots of rain.

Despite fears that the conditions would lead to team's ending their running early, the majority of the day's fastest lap speeds were set in the final hour.

Ed Carpenter was second quickest for his namesake team, trailing Castroneves' benchmark by 0.124mph.

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports' one-off entrant Jay Howard was third, narrowly holding off a late improvement from Scott Dixon in the final minutes.

Marco Andretti had been second on the timesheets ahead of the frantic final hour but he slipped to fifth late on.

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing's Sage Karam was sixth ahead of Carlin man Charlie Kimball.

Gabby Chaves made it five Chevrolet-powered cars in the top 10 with eighth for Harding Racing, ahead of Andretti duo Zach Veach and Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Simon Pagenaud had topped the morning's earlier practice session in a Penske 1-2-3 ahead of Castroneves and Newgarden, aided by a tow from Will Power.

But Pagenaud was just 14th in the afternoon, ahead of Robert Wickens (SPM) and Dale Coyne Racing driver Sebastien Bourdais.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing had impressed in the first practice session with Takuma Sato and Graham Rahal, who were the quickest drivers without a tow in the early running, but it ended the afternoon with Sato pulling off track with a problem in the final minutes.

Danica Patrick ended the day in 18th place, with Penske's Power, Newgarden and 2016 Indy 500 winner Rossi down in 22nd, 23rd and 26th respectively.

Zachary Claman de Melo completed his rookie orientation programme just hours after the Indy Lights graduate was confirmed as the replacement for the injured Pietro Fittipaldi for the Indy 500.

Andretti's Stefan Wilson, who stepped out of a drive for last year's race so the team could run Fernando Alonso, passed his veteran refresher test.

Oriol Servia, in the RLLR-prepared Scuderia Corsa-affiliated car, also passed the refresher test, as did AJ Foyt Racing's James Davison - a late stand-in for the injured Sebastien Bourdais last year.

Conor Daly was able to make the track in the final minutes after DCR had been preparing his car through the day, meaning Foyt's Matheus Leist was the only driver not to lap the Indy 500 venue.

Tuesday practice times

Pos Driver Team Car Speed Time Laps
1 Helio Castroneves Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 224.665 40.0597s 38
2 Ed Carpenter Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 224.523 40.0850s 39
3 Jay Howard Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 224.518 40.0858s 69
4 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 224.353 40.1153s 33
5 Marco Andretti Andretti Herta Dallara/Honda 224.217 40.1397s 36
6 Sage Karam Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 223.998 40.1790s 60
7 Charlie Kimball Carlin Dallara/Chevrolet 223.921 40.1928s 35
8 Gabby Chaves Harding Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 223.640 40.2433s 29
9 Zach Veach Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 223.551 40.2592s 45
10 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 223.488 40.2707s 66
11 Spencer Pigot Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 223.398 40.2868s 38
12 James Davison AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Chevrolet 223.346 40.2963s 21
13 Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 223.305 40.3037s 49
14 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 223.284 40.3074s 57
15 Robert Wickens Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 223.133 40.3347s 52
16 Sebastien Bourdais Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 222.960 40.3659s 46
17 Ed Jones Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 222.848 40.3863s 39
18 Danica Patrick Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 222.728 40.4080s 39
19 Carlos Munoz Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 222.701 40.4130s 50
20 Oriol Servia Scuderia Corsa Dallara/Honda 222.697 40.4137s 17
21 Stefan Wilson Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 222.524 40.4451s 36
22 Will Power Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 222.495 40.4504s 48
23 Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 222.471 40.4548s 68
24 J.R. Hildebrand Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 222.256 40.4938s 38
25 James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 221.900 40.5589s 31
26 Josef Newgarden Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 221.852 40.5675s 35
27 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 221.671 40.6007s 64
28 Jack Harvey Michael Shank Racing Dallara/Honda 221.500 40.6321s 67
29 Tony Kanaan AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Chevrolet 221.412 40.6482s 12
30 Max Chilton Carlin Dallara/Chevrolet 221.311 40.6668s 30
31 Zachary Claman Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 221.089 40.7076s 16
32 Kyle Kaiser Juncos Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 220.707 40.7781s 45
33 Conor Daly Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 215.926 41.6809s 9
34 Pippa Mann Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 214.731 41.9130s 19

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