Indianapolis road course IndyCar test: Ganassi's Scott Dixon on top
Scott Dixon praised the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course layout after setting the fastest time in Wednesday's IndyCar open test
The reigning series champion completed 82 laps, setting his fastest time of 1m09.5969s at the end of his run in the second session to beat Ganassi team-mate Ryan Briscoe by 0.05 seconds.
The circuit has been altered from its former Formula 1 configuration for IndyCar's first race on the famous venue's road layout on May 10.
"The track was so much fun today," Dixon said. "It's a demanding circuit.
"The cars all seem very close, which is going to create some fantastic racing.
"These big straights... I think Brazil is probably the only other time we've had a straight a similar length like this.
"Really impressed with how everything's gone. Even the kerbing, they've done a fantastic job."
More Indy road course test shots in the AUTOSPORT news gallery
Schmidt's Simon Pagenaud was third-fastest and quickest of the Honda-powered drivers, and echoed Dixon's enthusiasm for the layout.
"It's the smoothest track we go to," he said. "It's enjoyable. Quite a bit of high-speed corners, medium-speed corners, a lot of braking, which is going to be good for racing.
"I enjoyed it. I think the rhythm of the track is enjoyable as a driver. You get pretty busy in the car during the day. That was a lot of fun today."
Helio Castroneves and Ryan Hunter-Reay rounded out the top five on a day interrupted by a clutch of red flags, including one that marked the end of Pagenaud's team-mate Mikhail Aleshin's running early in the second session.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan's Oriol Servia also prompted a stoppage when his car came to a halt out on the track, while his team-mate Graham Rahal's day was curtailed by an engine problem.
Pos Driver Team/Engine Time Gap Laps 1. Scott Dixon Ganassi/Chevy 1m09.5969s 82 2. Ryan Briscoe Ganassi/Chevy 1m09.6558s +0.0589s 67 3. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt/Honda 1m09.7544s +0.1575s 78 4. Helio Castroneves Penske/Chevy 1m10.0209s +0.4240s 74 5. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti/Honda 1m10.0237s +0.4268s 64 6. Will Power Penske/Chevy 1m10.0260s +0.4291s 76 7. Justin Wilson Coyne/Honda 1m10.0388s +0.4419s 55 8. Juan Pablo Montoya Penske/Chevy 1m10.0983s +0.5014s 71 9. James Hinchcliffe Andretti/Honda 1m10.1387s +0.5418s 62 10. Jack Hawksworth Herta/Honda 1m10.1566s +0.5597s 76 11. Sebastien Bourdais KV/Chevy 1m10.2344s +0.6375s 65 12. Takuma Sato Foyt/Honda 1m10.2792s +0.6823s 63 13. Charlie Kimball Ganassi/Chevy 1m10.3347s +0.7378s 76 14. Marco Andretti Andretti/Honda 1m10.3401s +0.7432s 47 15. Oriol Servia Rahal/Honda 1m10.3473s +0.7054s 60 16. Sebastian Saavedra KV/Chevy 1m10.3601s +0.7632s 60 17. Carlos Munoz Andretti/Honda 1m10.4388s +0.8419s 59 18. Tony Kanaan Ganassi/Chevy 1m10.4392s +0.8423s 75 19. Franck Montagny Andretti/Honda 1m10.4860s +0.8891s 45 20. Carlos Huertas Coyne/Honda 1m10.6464s +1.0495s 44 21. Mike Conway Carpenter/Chevy 1m10.6953s +1.0984s 66 22. Josef Newgarden Fisher/Honda 1m10.9278s +1.3309s 54 23. Graham Rahal Rahal/Honda 1m11.7026s +2.1057s 41 24. Martin Plowman Foyt/Honda 1m11.7311s +2.1342s 47 25. Mikhail Aleshin Schmidt/Honda 1m12.2211s +2.6242s 25
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