Power fastest in first practice

The Penske driver is 12 points clear of rival Dario Franchitti heading into tomorrow night's final round. Power was third in practice going into the final minutes, but blasted to first place with a 25.0824s lap just after running resumed following a late yellow for a track inspection.

Franchitti played it cool during the session, sitting out the first half hour and only completing 22 laps - compared to Power's 46 - as he took fourth for Ganassi.

The championship contenders were split by Ganassi's Scott Dixon (who had been fastest until Power's late lap) and Penske's Ryan Briscoe, with Helio Castroneves fifth in the other Penske Dallara.

Dan Wheldon was best of the rest in sixth for Panther, ahead of Andretti Autosport's lead driver Marco Andretti, FAZZT's Alex Tagliani, Foyt's Vitor Meira, and Andretti's team-mate Tony Kanaan.

Ana Beatriz took 17th on her return to Dreyer & Reinbold, while Sebastian Saavedra started his first weekend at Conquest with 25th place.

This morning's hour was the only practice session prior to qualifying, although 11 drivers - including the title rivals - tested at the track earlier in the week.

Pos  Driver               Team               Time      Gap
 1.  Will Power           Penske             25.0824s
 2.  Scott Dixon          Ganassi            25.0966s  + 0.0142s
 3.  Ryan Briscoe         Penske             25.1060s  + 0.0236s
 4.  Dario Franchitti     Ganassi            25.1237s  + 0.0413s
 5.  Helio Castroneves    Penske             25.2491s  + 0.1667s
 6.  Dan Wheldon          Panther            25.2632s  + 0.1808s
 7.  Marco Andretti       Andretti           25.2675s  + 0.1851s
 8.  Alex Tagliani        FAZZT              25.2989s  + 0.2165s
 9.  Vitor Meira          Foyt               25.3105s  + 0.2281s
10.  Tony Kanaan          Andretti           25.3367s  + 0.2543s
11.  Hideki Mutoh         Newman/Haas        25.3681s  + 0.2857s
12.  Ed Carpenter         Panther/Vision     25.3764s  + 0.2940s
13.  Graham Rahal         Newman/Haas        25.3779s  + 0.2955s
14.  Justin Wilson        Dreyer & Reinbold  25.3829s  + 0.3005s
15.  Takuma Sato          KV                 25.3904s  + 0.3080s
16.  Danica Patrick       Andretti           25.3928s  + 0.3104s
17.  Ana Beatriz          Dreyer & Reinbold  25.4316s  + 0.3492s
18.  Sarah Fisher         Sarah Fisher       25.4753s  + 0.3929s
19.  Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti           25.4794s  + 0.3970s
20.  EJ Viso              KV                 25.4879s  + 0.4055s
21.  Simona de Silvestro  HVM                25.5292s  + 0.4468s
22.  Raphael Matos        De Ferran Dragon   25.5371s  + 0.4547s
23.  Bertrand Baguette    Conquest           25.5376s  + 0.4552s
24.  Alex Lloyd           Dale Coyne         25.5589s  + 0.4765s
25.  Sebastian Saavedra   Conquest           25.5771s  + 0.4947s
26.  Mario Moraes         KV                 25.6567s  + 0.5743s
27.  Milka Duno           Dale Coyne         25.6595s  + 0.5771s