Franchitti getting faster

The Scot was 11th fastest on the fifth day of practice at the speedway ahead of this Saturday's Pole Day. The Team Green driver creeped up to nearly 227mph, with team-mates Michael Andretti and Paul Tracy topping 225.

"We tried a slightly different approach today," noted Franchitti. "We felt the car was pretty much maxed out the way we had it yesterday and we were stuck at 224. We had an oil leak today that severely restricted our track time, but the car is a bit better. We're still learning about these cars, but we're going to focus on a qualifying set-up tomorrow and that should hopefully put us in good shape for the weekend."

But Tracy was less happy. "We're lost," he lamented. "Actually, we made a little progress today. But my car is too nervous in traffic and we weren't able to utilize our tyres as well as we could have. We'll try again tomorrow, but we're not real confident and not real sure of ourselves with these cars. We need a couple more mph."