Indianapolis 500: Simon Pagenaud quickest on Carb Day

Schmidt Peterson driver Pagenaud moved to the top of the timing screens in the final minutes with a 225.827mph effort, bettering the 225.304mph lap that had been laid down by Andretti's EJ Viso a few minutes earlier.

Reigning IndyCar champion Ryan Hunter-Reay claimed the third-fastest time.

AUTOSPORT's special Indy 500 feature package

The morning was an encouraging one for Honda, which recovered from being routed in qualifying last week to get six cars into the top 10.

Prior to Viso's lap, Honda entrants had held sway, with Ganassi's Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon occupying the top spot for much of the session.

Ana Beatriz caused a brief stoppage when she was caught out by a slow-moving Carlos Munoz while trying to enter the pits and ran into the back of the Andretti car, earning herself just enough damage to sideline her from the rest of the session.

There was also a spot of late drama when Ryan Briscoe's car suddenly slowed on the back straight just after the chequered flag.

The Ganassi driver steered it toward the grass verge, whereupon it immediately caught fire. Safety teams were quick to respond and the situation was quickly brought under control.

Pos  Driver               Team/Engine        Time      Gap        Speed
 1.  Simon Pagenaud       Schmidt/Honda      39.8536s             225.827
 2.  EJ Viso              Andretti/Chevy     39.9461s  + 0.0925s  225.304
 3.  Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti/Chevy     39.9906s  + 0.1370s  225.053
 4.  Scott Dixon          Ganassi/Honda      40.0232s  + 0.1696s  224.870
 5.  Sebastien Bourdais   Dragon/Chevy       40.0270s  + 0.1734s  224.848
 6.  Dario Franchitti     Ganassi/Honda      40.0556s  + 0.2020s  224.688
 7.  James Jakes          Rahal/Honda        40.0674s  + 0.2138s  224.622
 8.  Katherine Legge      Schmidt/Honda      40.1053s  + 0.2517s  224.409
 9.  Marco Andretti       Andretti/Chevy     40.1261s  + 0.2725s  224.293
10.  Alex Tagliani        Herta/Honda        40.1371s  + 0.2835s  224.231
11.  Tony Kanaan          KV/Chevy           40.1420s  + 0.2884s  224.204
12.  Justin Wilson        Coyne/Honda        40.1585s  + 0.3049s  224.112
13.  AJ Allmendinger      Penske/Chevy       40.1595s  + 0.3059s  224.106
14.  James Hinchcliffe    Andretti/Chevy     40.1654s  + 0.3118s  224.073
15.  Will Power           Penske/Chevy       40.1702s  + 0.3166s  224.047
16.  Josef Newgarden      Fisher/Honda       40.2119s  + 0.3583s  223.814
17.  Ed Carpenter         Carpenter/Chevy    40.2155s  + 0.3619s  223.794
18.  Oriol Servia         Panther DRR/Chevy  40.2196s  + 0.3660s  223.771
19.  Takuma Sato          Foyt/Honda         40.2258s  + 0.3722s  223.737
20.  Charlie Kimball      Ganassi/Honda      40.2385s  + 0.3849s  223.666
21.  JR Hildebrand        Panther/Chevy      40.2561s  + 0.4025s  223.569
22.  Ryan Briscoe         Ganassi/Honda      40.2596s  + 0.4060s  223.549
23.  Graham Rahal         Rahal/Honda        40.3033s  + 0.4497s  223.307
24.  Tristan Vautier      Schmidt/Honda      40.3087s  + 0.4551s  223.277
25.  Sebastian Saavedra   Dragon/Chevy       40.3088s  + 0.4552s  223.276
26.  Townsend Bell        Panther/Chevy      40.3719s  + 0.5183s  222.927
27.  Simona de Silvestro  KV/Chevy           40.3754s  + 0.5218s  222.908
28.  Helio Castroneves    Penske/Chevy       40.5358s  + 0.6822s  222.026
29.  Conor Daly           Foyt/Honda         40.5821s  + 0.7285s  221.773
30.  Carlos Munoz         Andretti/Chevy     40.5892s  + 0.7356s  221.734
31.  Ana Beatriz          Coyne/Honda        40.7625s  + 0.9099s  220.786
32.  Buddy Lazier         Lazier/Chevy       41.0645s  + 1.2109s  219.167
33.  Pippa Mann           Coyne/Honda

All drivers in Dallara DW12 chassis