Brack fast as Honda/Toyota battle rages

Kenny Brack's Team Rahal Honda-powered Dallara had the fastest lap in two sessions - 177.200 mph - on the one-mile track. Scott Dixon, who won the Indy Racing League season opener earlier this month at Homestead-Miami Speedway, had the second-fastest lap (176.074 mph) in his Toyota-powered G Force. Toyota and Honda had the fastest 10 laps of the day. The fastest lap by a Chevrolet - Jaques Lazier's 172.800mph - ranked 11th among the 22 drivers.

Other top laps were record by Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanaan, Helio Castroneves, Michael Andretti and Tomas Scheckter. Brack, one of just a handful of current IRL drivers with race experience at PIR, said Sunday's race will be tough because everyone is so close in speed.

"It's going to be difficult this time," Brack said. "It seems like there are a lot of cars that are really fast. It's going to be interesting to see. Perhaps if you use lapped cars and stuff like that, but it's certainly very hard competition."

Dixon and his Target Chip Ganassi crew played with setup to try to match the quirky PIR oval, which offers four completely different turns.

"We went either side on the balance," Dixon said. "We weren't perfect, but the car was very consistent. We did probably five or six laps at 20.4 during our run. I think we could have gone a little faster initially in the morning session. During the afternoon session, we just ran full tanks. We're very happy with where we ended up."

Franchitti, who struggled in the days leading up to the Homestead race, looked strong in his first race weekend at PIR. His lap of 175.729 mph was best in the afternoon session and third-best of the day.

"It's nice to be able to go out and do a semi-qualifying type of simulation and show what we're capable of," Franchitti said. "I'm sure the track is going to change a lot by the time we qualify tomorrow, but we're happy with what we have so far."