Franchitti fastest between showers

After 20 minutes of clear running initially, moisture and debris at Turn 1 forced the first yellow, before a long rain shower led to a pause of nearly half an hour.

The organisers hoped to fit in at least 15 more minutes of running when the track finally went green again, but had to concede defeat after more rain eight minutes later.

During that final brief spell of track action, Ganassi driver Franchitti put in a 24.4955s lap to usurp Penske's Helio Castroneves, who had led the way up to then.

Scott Dixon was third in Ganassi's second car, with Dan Wheldon showing strong form for Panther in fourth, a week after his near-victory at Chicagoland.

Penske's Ryan Briscoe and Andretti Autosport's Tony Kanaan completed the top six, while championship leader Will Power (Penske) was back in 10th.

Seventh place was a promising result for Mario Moraes and KV Racing, but the leading underdog of the session was AJ Foyt Racing's Vitor Meira - who took eighth.

The rain interruptions hampered preparations for the drivers reacclimatising to different teams this weekend. Paul Tracy and Graham Rahal were only 25th and 26th on their returns to Dreyer & Reinbold and Sarah Fisher Racing respectively.

Qualifying for Saturday night's race is due to take place in just under two hours' time, with a 20 per cent chance of rain predicted for this afternoon.

Pos  Driver               Team               Time      Gap
 1.  Dario Franchitti     Ganassi            24.4955s
 2.  Helio Castroneves    Penske             24.5183s  + 0.0228s
 3.  Scott Dixon          Ganassi            24.5482s  + 0.0527s
 4.  Dan Wheldon          Panther            24.5494s  + 0.0539s
 5.  Ryan Briscoe         Penske             24.5882s  + 0.0927s
 6.  Tony Kanaan          Andretti           24.6060s  + 0.1105s
 7.  Mario Moraes         KV                 24.6061s  + 0.1106s
 8.  Vitor Meira          Foyt               24.6179s  + 0.1224s
 9.  Marco Andretti       Andretti           24.6265s  + 0.1310s
10.  Will Power           Penske             24.6485s  + 0.1530s
11.  Danica Patrick       Andretti           24.6507s  + 0.1552s
12.  Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti           24.6544s  + 0.1589s
13.  Ed Carpenter         Panther/Vision     24.6684s  + 0.1729s
14.  Alex Lloyd           Dale Coyne         24.6842s  + 0.1887s
15.  Takuma Sato          KV                 24.6868s  + 0.1913s
16.  Raphael Matos        De Ferran Dragon   24.7167s  + 0.2212s
17.  Tomas Scheckter      Conquest           24.7242s  + 0.2287s
18.  Alex Tagliani        FAZZT              24.7301s  + 0.2346s
19.  Bertrand Baguette    Conquest           24.7681s  + 0.2726s
20.  Sarah Fisher         Sarah Fisher       24.7960s  + 0.3005s
21.  Justin Wilson        Dreyer & Reinbold  24.8246s  + 0.3291s
22.  EJ Viso              KV                 24.8738s  + 0.3783s
23.  Simona de Silvestro  HVM                24.9016s  + 0.4061s
24.  Hideki Mutoh         Newman/Haas        24.9328s  + 0.4373s
25.  Paul Tracy           Dreyer & Reinbold  24.9797s  + 0.4842s
26.  Graham Rahal         Sarah Fisher       25.0829s  + 0.5874s
27.  Milka Duno           Dale Coyne         25.3171s  + 0.8216s