Dixon on top at Indy

Dixon recorded the fastest lap during the opening day of practice for the 88th Indianapolis 500, zipping around the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in 219.760 mph. That was a blink quicker than Helio Castroneves, who just missed Dixon's lap in the final hour.

Dixon, the defending IRL IndyCar Series champion, said he expects speeds to climb another 4 or 5 mph during the next week. By the time Saturday's qualifying session rolls around, he expects top speeds to reach the mid-220s.

"I'm still thinking 225," Dixon said. "The track will probably pick up a few miles per hour, and the engine manufacturers will offer revisions during the month. This circuit is totally different than any place else. You try to trim the car out as much as you can and get the speed as fast as possible. It's all about balance."

Having Dixon and Castroneves at the top was a winner for Toyota, which has dominated early laps of testing under the IRL's new 3.0-litre engine formula. Honda, which had struggled to match the speed of Toyota and Chevy in three open test sessions last month at Indy, finally did it on Sunday as Honda drivers Adrian Fernandez, Dan Wheldon, Bruno Junqueira and Tony Kanaan posted laps among the top nine.

"With the hotter conditions, the track doesn't really have that much grip," Fernandez said. "Also, you can't run the low line. But the speed was there, so I'm happy with the way things went."

It also marked a rare moment in which Marlboro Team Penske didn't lead the high-speed parade at Indy. With Sam Hornish Jr. sitting out Sunday's session because of a respiratory infection, Castroneves was Penske's lone hope to grab the spotlight, which the team had done in both days of an open test on April 28-29. Castroneves nearly did it, but his best lap was 0.008 mph behind Dixon's best.

"I closed my eyes," Castroneves said. "We started today the way we left the open test. It felt pretty much the same. We'll just have to be patient and wait for the right time."

Following Fernandez's 218.342 mph lap was Tomas Scheckter in the Panther Racing Chevrolet-powered Dallara, Wheldon in the Andretti Green Racing Dallara/Honda, Mark Taylor in the second Panther Dallara/Chevy, Ed Carpenter in the Red Bull Cheever Racing Dallara/Chevy, and Junqueira in the Newman/Haas Racing G-Force/Honda.

Thirty-three cars - 11 of which were backups - were on the track during Sunday's five-hour session. Practice continues each day this week from noon to 7pm.

Scott Dixon G-Force/Toyota 219.760mph
Helio Castroneves Dallara/Toyota 219.752mph
Adrian Fernandez G-Force/Honda 218.342mph
Tomas Scheckter Dallara/Chevrolet 218.308mph
Dan Wheldon Dallara/Honda 218.007mph
Mark Taylor Dallara/Chevrolet 217.613mph
Ed Carpenter Dallara/Chevrolet 217.613mph
Bruno Junqueira G-Force/Honda 217.325mph
Tony Kanaan Dallara/Honda 217.269mph
Darren Manning G-Force/Toyota 217.218mph