Lloyd encouraged by testing pace

The 23-year-old Briton, who won IndyCar's feeder series - the Indy Pro Series - title last year, was the only driver to post an average speed above 223mph yesterday and he feels he is adjusting well from the 190mph IPS car to the 225mph IndyCar.

"It was a good day really," he said. "We had a couple of problems that set us back a couple of hours, but we got a good run in the end and I was able to gradually take a little bit of downforce out of the car, which is they key. I've been doing that nice and gently over the last couple of days.

"It's my first time in an IndyCar on an oval so I'm giving the track a lot of respect and taking my time with it. We're just improving the balance of the car and getting up to speed during the day. I'm feeling very comfortable with it."

He was signed to Chip Ganassi's team after winning the IPS title last year, but he is not racing the full season this year and will contest the Indy 500 for Rahal Letterman Racing, with support from some Ganassi personnel.

"Having Chip Ganassi and Bobby Rahal together working with me, I've got a lot of experience helping me and I'm finding that to be a great benefit," Lloyd added. "It's gone very smoothly so far."

Lloyd will practice alongside the full Indy 500 field for first time today, with the experienced IndyCar drivers begin their running this afternoon.

"It's going to be nice to see what sort of speeds they're doing, and to see where we are and what we need to improve on. We'll just keep working at it."