St Petersburg IndyCar: Will Power fastest again in third practice
Will Power finished fastest for Team Penske in the St Petersburg IndyCar third practice session
The Australian had traded quickest times throughout the session with Mikhail Aleshin, Juan Pablo Montoya and Jack Hawksworth.
Hawksworth came into the pits with two minutes left on the clock having secured the top spot, before Power snatched it with a 1m00.8965s time - 0.0833 seconds quicker.
Hawksworth finished the session the fastest of the Honda contingent behind Power, who topped second practice on Friday in his Chevrolet-powered Dallara.
All four Penske cars finished in the top seven, with Montoya finishing the session third behind Hawksworth, 0.1535s off Power's time.
In fourth, Graham Rahal edged Helio Castroneves, ahead of Josef Newgarden and Simon Pagenaud.
Sebastien Bourdais, Takuma Sato and Scott Dixon rounded out the top 10.
Ryan Hunter-Reay triggered an early red flag after grinding to a halt on the straight heading into Turn 10 - a miscommunication with his Andretti crew meant he stayed out an extra lap and ran out of fuel.
He finished 15th, 0.6263s off Power's time.
Alexander Rossi finished the session top of the rookies in his Andretti Dallara-Honda in 16th - while fellow Formula 1 refugee Max Chilton could only manage 20th.
Conor Daly finished 22nd and last - his time 0.9923s off Power's pace.
Autosport Race Centre Live will bring you full coverage of the season opener from 4:45pm UK time on Sunday.
PRACTICE THREE RESULTS:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Will Power | Team Penske | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m00.8965s | - | 18 |
| 2 | Jack Hawksworth | AJ Foyt Enterprises | Dallara/Honda | 1m00.9798s | 0.0833s | 16 |
| 3 | Juan Pablo Montoya | Team Penske | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m01.0500s | 0.1535s | 20 |
| 4 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan | Dallara/Honda | 1m01.1331s | 0.2366s | 27 |
| 5 | Helio Castroneves | Team Penske | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m01.1430s | 0.2465s | 22 |
| 6 | Josef Newgarden | Ed Carpenter Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m01.1442s | 0.2477s | 21 |
| 7 | Simon Pagenaud | Team Penske | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m01.1912s | 0.2947s | 23 |
| 8 | Sebastien Bourdais | KVSH Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m01.2515s | 0.3550s | 22 |
| 9 | Takuma Sato | AJ Foyt Enterprises | Dallara/Honda | 1m01.2552s | 0.3587s | 20 |
| 10 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m01.2842s | 0.3877s | 17 |
| 11 | Mikhail Aleshin | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | Dallara/Honda | 1m01.3257s | 0.4292s | 15 |
| 12 | Marco Andretti | Andretti Autosport | Dallara/Honda | 1m01.3330s | 0.4365s | 20 |
| 13 | Charlie Kimball | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m01.4134s | 0.5169s | 24 |
| 14 | James Hinchcliffe | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | Dallara/Honda | 1m01.4384s | 0.5419s | 23 |
| 15 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Andretti Autosport | Dallara/Honda | 1m01.5228s | 0.6263s | 21 |
| 16 | Alexander Rossi | Andretti Herta | Dallara/Honda | 1m01.5663s | 0.6698s | 24 |
| 17 | Tony Kanaan | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m01.5987s | 0.7022s | 22 |
| 18 | Carlos Munoz | Andretti Autosport | Dallara/Honda | 1m01.6180s | 0.7215s | 20 |
| 19 | Spencer Pigot | Rahal Letterman Lanigan | Dallara/Honda | 1m01.7640s | 0.8675s | 23 |
| 20 | Max Chilton | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m01.7945s | 0.8980s | 23 |
| 21 | Luca Filippi | Dale Coyne Racing | Dallara/Honda | 1m01.8158s | 0.9193s | 21 |
| 22 | Conor Daly | Dale Coyne Racing | Dallara/Honda | 1m01.8888s | 0.9923s | 25 |
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