Dixon fastest in first practice

Contact between Dixon and Sato at Turn 6 saw the KV car spin around in front of Dixon's Ganassi Dallara and come to a halt blocking it. The following Bertrand Baguette (Conquest) then slid into the rear of Dixon's car in the traffic jam.

The incident brought the session to a slightly early end, with the officials deciding to throw the chequered flag as well as a yellow to allow the three cars to be restarted.

Sato had also been at the centre of the morning's other yellow, when he crashed at the final turn on what would have been his first lap. The incident neatly removed Sato's rear wing, but he was soon back on track with a new one.

Dixon and the rest of the Ganassi and Penske contingent had sat out most of the morning, letting the underdogs clean the circuit and only joining in with 20 minutes to go.

It did not take Dixon long to go fastest on a 1m03.9149s, just 0.0655s ahead of Justin Wilson's Dreyer & Reinbold car.

Alex Tagliani got his home race weekend off to a great start with third for Fazzt, followed by Penske's Helio Castroneves, Ganassi's Dario Franchitti and Andretti Autosport duo Tony Kanaan and Ryan Hunter-Reay. Championship leader Will Power was back in eighth for Penske.

KV's EJ Viso was one of a host of drivers who had a turn on top during the opening 40 minutes and ended up ninth.

Returnees Tomas Scheckter (Dreyer & Reinbold), Graham Rahal (Newman/Haas) and Paul Tracy (KV) were 11th, 13th and 15th respectively.

Pos  Driver               Team               Time        Gap
 1.  Scott Dixon          Ganassi            1m03.9149s
 2.  Justin Wilson        Dreyer & Reinbold  1m03.9804s  + 0.0655s
 3.  Alex Tagliani        Fazzt              1m04.0220s  + 0.1071s
 4.  Helio Castroneves    Penske             1m04.0354s  + 0.1206s
 5.  Dario Franchitti     Ganassi            1m04.3344s  + 0.4195s
 6.  Tony Kanaan          Andretti           1m04.4004s  + 0.4856s
 7.  Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti           1m04.4111s  + 0.4963s
 8.  Will Power           Penske             1m04.4444s  + 0.5295s
 9.  EJ Viso              KV                 1m04.4786s  + 0.5637s
10.  Raphael Matos        De Ferran Dragon   1m04.5822s  + 0.6673s
11.  Tomas Scheckter      Dreyer & Reinbold  1m04.6085s  + 0.6937s
12.  Vitor Meira          Foyt               1m04.7159s  + 0.8010s
13.  Graham Rahal         Newman/Haas        1m04.7488s  + 0.8339s
14.  Ryan Briscoe         Penske             1m04.8761s  + 0.9613s
15.  Paul Tracy           KV                 1m05.0083s  + 1.0935s
16.  Marco Andretti       Andretti           1m05.4021s  + 1.4873s
17.  Hideki Mutoh         Newman/Haas        1m05.6601s  + 1.7452s
18.  Bertrand Baguette    Conquest           1m05.6714s  + 1.7565s
19.  Dan Wheldon          Panther            1m05.8653s  + 1.9505s
20.  Simona de Silvestro  HVM                1m05.9338s  + 2.0189s
21.  Mario Moraes         KV                 1m06.0202s  + 2.1053s
22.  Danica Patrick       Andretti           1m06.1770s  + 2.2621s
23.  Takuma Sato          KV                 1m06.4394s  + 2.5246s
24.  Alex Lloyd           Dale Coyne         1m07.0909s  + 3.1760s
25.  Mario Romancini      Conquest           1m07.6783s  + 3.7635s
26.  Milka Duno           Dale Coyne         1m11.9951s  + 8.0803s