Mid-Ohio IndyCar: Ganassi's Scott Dixon fastest in practice again
Scott Dixon continues to set the early-weekend pace at Mid-Ohio after topping the third IndyCar practice session on Saturday morning
The Ganassi driver, who was also fastest on Friday, waited until his final flying lap to post his 1m05.1209s, leaving him more than 0.3 seconds clear of second-fastest Josef Newgarden's CFH car.
Charlie Kimball finished up in third ahead of Sebastien Bourdais, while Andretti duo Ryan Hunter-Reay and Marco Andretti clocked in as the fastest Hondas at fifth and sixth respectively.
Unlike Friday's red flag-filled sessions, the drivers started Saturday with an unbroken spell of green flag conditions to work with.
There were a couple of close calls though, the most spectacular coming when Luca Filippi lost the rear of his CFH Racing car and completed a neat 360 degree spin.
But he managed to gather it up without stalling, and the track was cleared after a brief flurry of local yellows.
Most of the real drama took place in the pits, starting when Penske's Simon Pagenaud detected a strange engine note while on his installation lap. He returned to his pit box, and missed the rest of the session while the problem was being diagnosed.
Stefano Coletti's morning also ended early, although that was by choice: the KV rookie reported that he was feeling unwell, and elected to park his car in order to be as fresh as possible for qualifying later on Saturday.
PRACTICE THREE TIMES:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m05.1209s | - | 20 |
| 2 | Josef Newgarden | CFH Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m05.4833s | 0.3624s | 21 |
| 3 | Charlie Kimball | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m05.5096s | 0.3887s | 25 |
| 4 | Sebastien Bourdais | KVSH Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m05.5310s | 0.4101s | 19 |
| 5 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Andretti Autosport | Dallara/Honda | 1m05.5970s | 0.4761s | 22 |
| 6 | Marco Andretti | Andretti Autosport | Dallara/Honda | 1m05.6107s | 0.4898s | 20 |
| 7 | Juan Pablo Montoya | Team Penske | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m05.6144s | 0.4935s | 21 |
| 8 | Will Power | Team Penske | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m05.6216s | 0.5007s | 21 |
| 9 | Jack Hawksworth | AJ Foyt Enterprises | Dallara/Honda | 1m05.6347s | 0.5138s | 22 |
| 10 | Tony Kanaan | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m05.7038s | 0.5829s | 21 |
| 11 | Ryan Briscoe | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | Dallara/Honda | 1m05.7663s | 0.6454s | 22 |
| 12 | James Jakes | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | Dallara/Honda | 1m05.7690s | 0.6481s | 18 |
| 13 | Takuma Sato | AJ Foyt Enterprises | Dallara/Honda | 1m05.8231s | 0.7022s | 19 |
| 14 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan | Dallara/Honda | 1m05.8299s | 0.7090s | 26 |
| 15 | Stefano Coletti | KV Racing Technology | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m05.8641s | 0.7432s | 17 |
| 16 | Luca Filippi | CFH Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m05.9295s | 0.8086s | 22 |
| 17 | Justin Wilson | Andretti Autosport | Dallara/Honda | 1m05.9330s | 0.8121s | 24 |
| 18 | Sage Karam | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m05.9574s | 0.8365s | 27 |
| 19 | Helio Castroneves | Team Penske | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m05.9976s | 0.8767s | 25 |
| 20 | Gabby Chaves | Bryan Herta Autosport | Dallara/Honda | 1m06.3385s | 1.2176s | 23 |
| 21 | Rodolfo Gonzalez | Dale Coyne Racing | Dallara/Honda | 1m06.5120s | 1.3911s | 25 |
| 22 | Carlos Munoz | Andretti Autosport | Dallara/Honda | 1m06.5166s | 1.3957s | 23 |
| 23 | Tristan Vautier | Dale Coyne Racing | Dallara/Honda | 1m06.5933s | 1.4724s | 24 |
| 24 | Simon Pagenaud | Team Penske | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m18.8110s | 13.6901s | 2 |
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