Patrick Fastest in Final Practice

Patrick beat poleman Tony Kanaan and IRL points leader Daniel Wheldon to the top time as the contenders took their final chance to optimise their cars for Sunday's race.

Patrick took her Rahal-Letterman Racing Panoz-Honda round the Brickyard at an average speed of 225.597mph, with Kanaan next best on 225.451mph in his Andretti-Green Dallara-Honda and its sister car driven by Wheldon third quickest on 225.262mph.

Patrick commented: "We weren't trying to come out here and be the fastest, but it's always good to be. It's good for confidence, and it's good to see that your car can do it, especially having downforce on the car now as opposed to qualifying conditions."

Buddy Lazier escaped unhurt from a big shunt at Turn 4 after an apparent mechanical failure on his Panther Racing Dallara-Chevrolet. Lazier had not wound up to full speed when the shunt happened. He has been cleared to drive in the Indy 500 after a check-up at the medical centre.

89th Indianapolis 500 - Final Practice Results:

Pos  Driver              Chassis-Engine  Speed    Laps
 1.  Danica Patrick      Panoz-Honda     225.597  19
 2.  Tony Kanaan         Dallara-Honda   225.451  26
 3.  Dan Wheldon         Dallara-Honda   225.262  25
 4.  Sam Hornish Jr      Dallara-Toyota  225.003  18
 5.  Tomas Scheckter     Dallara-Chevy   224.646  12
 6.  Scott Sharp         Panoz-Honda     224.472  17
 7.  Tomas Enge          Dallara-Chevy   224.368  18
 8.  Adrian Fernandez    Panoz-Honda     224.254  22
 9.  Vitor Meira         Panoz-Honda     224.039  24
10.  Sebastien Bourdais  Panoz-Honda     223.791  24
11.  Bryan Herta         Dallara-Honda   223.694  28
12.  Kosuke Matsuura     Panoz-Honda     223.407  25
13.  Helio Castroneves   Dallara-Toyota  223.334  21
14.  Kenny Brack         Panoz-Honda     223.230  18
15.  Dario Franchitti    Dallara-Honda   223.203  25
16.  Bruno Junqueira     Panoz-Honda     222.710  28
17.  Roger Yasukawa      Dallara-Honda   222.058  28
18.  Darren Manning      Panoz-Toyota    221.778  19
19.  Scott Dixon         Panoz-Toyota    221.736  24
20.  Jaques Lazier       Panoz-Toyota    221.728  13
21.  Ryan Briscoe        Panoz-Toyota    221.615  21
22.  Richie Hearn        Panoz-Chevy     221.485  17
23.  Alex Barron         Dallara-Toyota  221.023  16
24.  Jeff Bucknum        Dallara-Honda   219.817  28
25.  Ed Carpenter        Dallara-Toyota  219.300  22
26.  Patrick Carpentier  Dallara-Toyota  218.867  22
27.  Marty Roth          Dallara-Chevy   218.310  20
28.  Jeff Ward           Dallara-Toyota  217.367  22
29.  AJ Foyt IV          Dallara-Toyota  215.638  22
30.  Larry Foyt          Dallara-Toyota  215.123  24
31.  Jimmy Kite          Dallara-Toyota  214.992  18
32.  Felipe Giaffone     Panoz-Toyota    213.590  22