Day 6: Castroneves celebrates in style

Conditions were ideal for the first day this week that was not delayed by rain. Bruno Junqueira set the mark to beat at 3:30pm in his Ganassi G-Force-Chevrolet at over 231mph before quitting for the day.

"I think we could have challenged for the fast time of the day, but we ended very early," Junqueira said. "I think we'll be good tomorrow. Good enough for the pole, I don't know."

Junqueira's speed was challenged by his team-mate Kenny Brack and then by Robbie Buhl. But ultimately it fell to Castroneves who ran a 231 lap prior to his 232 flyer at 4:57pm.

"My car feels very easy to drive," Castroneves said of his Penske Dallara-Chevrolet. "When I did my 231 lap I was by myself and I think I got a slight tow on my 232 lap. I wanted to try another run, but Roger (Penske) pulled the plug on that."

Castroneves said it has been much easier to maintain a focus on Indianapolis this year because they do not have a CART Champ Car race in Japan in the middle of the Month of May. The Penske team is competing in the Indy Racing League full-time for the first time in 2002 after 23 years in CART.

"Last year was very tough because we had to do a qualifying set-up and a race set-up in one week," he remarked. "We were concerned about making the race last year, but this year we are very fast. It looks very close between everyone and I think it's going to be exciting."

Dario Franchitti was 19th fastest at 228.8mph, edging ahead of his Team Green mates, while Johnny Herbert was 32nd at 226.562mph.

"The car's not perfect," said the Scot. "It's still pushing in all the corners and when we try to get rid of the push, it gets nervous all the way around."

Max Papis and Alex Barron were uninjured in separate Turn 1 accidents. Papis' wreck was cause by a loose oil line.

Pole Qualifying starts at 11:00 Saturday morning (local time), but local weather forecasts suggest a 90 percent chance of rain after 1:00pm.