Indy 500: Dario Franchitti quickest as Honda steps up its pace

The defending race winner's 224.236mph lap came late in the day as drivers settled into small packs to evaluate their cars' handling in traffic, but he also set the fastest non-towed lap of 218.789mph earlier on.

"It doesn't really count for much, but it's nice nonetheless," Franchitti said.

"We're still very much in the preparation stage; we're making changes to the car and sometimes doing one or two lap runs.

"Really, the lap time came from being in the right place at the right time. It was when you got the tow and how big the tow was. For us, it was more important [to see] how the car was in traffic."

Panther's Townsend Bell came closest to matching Franchitti's time with his 223.716mph, just edging three-time race-winner Helio Castroneves' 223.699mph.

The day passed largely without incident; the notable exception being when Dragon's Sebastian Saavedra prompted an early yellow after his car began shedding decals, and the available track time proved useful in helping some of the Indy rookies adjust to running in groups.

"I got to run in traffic at the end of the day, so that was good experience, a whole new experience for me, and I really enjoyed it," said AJ Foyt Enterprises' Conor Daly.

"It was a little surprising. It's tough to really get close to people, so I think there's some stuff we can do with the car to help that. But I think mainly it's just me trying to figure out how to navigate traffic, so it should get better."

Pos Driver               Team        Engine  Mph      Time      Gap
 1. Dario Franchitti     Ganassi     Honda   224.236  40.1363s
 2. Townsend Bell        Panther     Chevy   223.716  40.2295s  + 0.0932s
 3. Helio Castroneves    Penske      Chevy   223.699  40.2327s  + 0.0964s
 4. Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti    Chevy   223.093  40.3420s  + 0.2057s
 5. Ryan Briscoe         Ganassi     Honda   222.803  40.3945s  + 0.2582s
 6. Marco Andretti       Andretti    Chevy   222.741  40.4056s  + 0.2693s
 7. EJ Viso              Andretti    Chevy   222.727  40.4082s  + 0.2719s
 8. Alex Tagliani        Herta       Honda   222.35   40.4768s  + 0.3405s
 9. Scott Dixon          Ganassi     Honda   222.312  40.4837s  + 0.3474s
10. Carlos Munoz         Andretti    Chevy   222.268  40.4917s  + 0.3554s
11. Ed Carpenter         Carpenter   Chevy   221.879  40.5627s  + 0.4264s
12. Takuma Sato          Foyt        Honda   221.805  40.5761s  + 0.4398s
13. Simon Pagenaud       Schmidt     Honda   221.677  40.5996s  + 0.4633s
14. James Hinchcliffe    Andretti    Chevy   221.67   40.6009s  + 0.4646s
15. JR Hildebrand        Panther     Chevy   221.316  40.6658s  + 0.5295s
16. James Jakes          Rahal       Honda   221.241  40.6797s  + 0.5434s
17. Oriol Servia         Panther DRR Chevy   221.153  40.6958s  + 0.5595s
18. AJ Allmendinger      Penske      Chevy   221.093  40.7069s  + 0.5706s
19. Charlie Kimball      Ganassi     Honda   220.989  40.7261s  + 0.5898s
20. Sebastien Bourdais   Dragon      Chevy   220.949  40.7333s  + 0.5970s
21. Tristan Vautier      Schmidt     Honda   220.765  40.7673s  + 0.6310s
22. Tony Kanaan          KV          Chevy   220.721  40.7755s  + 0.6392s
23. Will Power           Penske      Chevy   220.719  40.7759s  + 0.6396s
24. Conor Daly           Foyt        Honda   220.659  40.7870s  + 0.6507s
25. Sebastian Saavedra   Dragon      Chevy   220.343  40.8455s  + 0.7092s
26. Josef Newgarden      Fisher      Honda   220.293  40.8547s  + 0.7184s
27. Justin Wilson        Coyne       Honda   220.174  40.8767s  + 0.7404s
28. Simona de Silvestro  KV          Chevy   219.859  40.9353s  + 0.7990s
29. Pippa Mann           Coyne       Honda   219.793  40.9476s  + 0.8113s
30. Graham Rahal         Rahal       Honda   219.123  41.0728s  + 0.9365s
31. Ana Beatriz          Coyne       Honda   218.315  41.2249s  + 1.0886s

All cars Dallara DW12