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Tagliani leads Indy practice

Alex Tagliani was fastest for Sam Schmidt Motorsports on the first uninterrupted day of practice for this year's Indianapolis 500 on Monday

With showers having caused several stoppages on Saturday - which was in any case largely a shakedown for most top teams - and rain having prompted the complete cancellation of Sunday's running, yesterday's session was the first time that the field was able to get the full scheduled six hours in.

Tagliani emerged fastest at an average speed of 225.878mph. The Canadian said he was keen to build on his 2010 Indy form, when his team - then known as FAZZT - was the quickest non-Penske/Ganassi runner in qualifying and he took fifth on the grid.

"We had a chance in 2010 to develop a good base and in the winter, the guys worked really hard on the car and cleaned it up a bit and always paid attention to details," he said. "That's what this place wants, and it's nice to start the week with a car that's quite strong.

"Hopefully we can build on it. You can never take anything for granted at this place. We have to stay on our toes all week and roll the car out for qualifying and hope for the best."

Ganassi duo Scott Dixon and Graham Rahal were next up, ahead of Penske's Ryan Briscoe and Newman/Haas driver Oriol Servia.

A total of 39 drivers took to the track, with only Schmidt/Rahal driver Jay Howard choosing to sit the session out as he conserved tyres for later in the month.

Pos  Driver               Team                     Time      Gap
 1.  Alex Tagliani        Sam Schmidt              39.8445s
 2.  Scott Dixon          Ganassi                  39.9779s  + 0.1334s
 3.  Graham Rahal         Ganassi                  39.9874s  + 0.1429s
 4.  Ryan Briscoe         Penske                   39.9972s  + 0.1527s
 5.  Oriol Servia         Newman/Haas              40.0172s  + 0.1727s
 6.  Vitor Meira          Foyt                     40.0332s  + 0.1887s
 7.  Dario Franchitti     Ganassi                  40.1059s  + 0.2614s
 8.  Helio Castroneves    Penske                   40.1163s  + 0.2718s
 9.  Marco Andretti       Andretti                 40.1401s  + 0.2956s
10.  Will Power           Penske                   40.1815s  + 0.3370s
11.  Ed Carpenter         Sarah Fisher             40.1916s  + 0.3471s
12.  Paul Tracy           Dreyer & Reinbold        40.2180s  + 0.3735s
13.  Buddy Rice           Panther                  40.2307s  + 0.3862s
14.  Raphael Matos        AFS                      40.2405s  + 0.3960s
15.  Danica Patrick       Andretti                 40.2530s  + 0.4085s
16.  Justin Wilson        Dreyer & Reinbold        40.2800s  + 0.4355s
17.  Bertrand Baguette    Rahal Letterman Lanigan  40.2813s  + 0.4368s
18.  John Andretti        Petty/Andretti           40.2921s  + 0.4476s
19.  Townsend Bell        Sam Schmidt              40.3002s  + 0.4557s
20.  JR Hildebrand        Panther                  40.3224s  + 0.4779s
21.  Ho-Pin Tung          Dragon                   40.3277s  + 0.4832s
22.  Tony Kanaan          KV                       40.3528s  + 0.5083s
23.  James Hinchcliffe    Newman/Haas              40.3638s  + 0.5193s
24.  Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti                 40.3717s  + 0.5272s
25.  Davey Hamilton       Dreyer & Reinbold        40.4048s  + 0.5603s
26.  Bruno Junqueira      Foyt                     40.4316s  + 0.5871s
27.  Takuma Sato          KV                       40.4485s  + 0.6040s
28.  Ana Beatriz          Dreyer & Reinbold        40.5037s  + 0.6592s
29.  Scott Speed          Dragon                   40.5086s  + 0.6641s
30.  Simona de Silvestro  HVM                      40.5926s  + 0.7481s
31.  Charlie Kimball      Ganassi                  40.6220s  + 0.7775s
32.  Dan Wheldon          Herta                    40.6740s  + 0.8295s
33.  Tomas Scheckter      KV/SH                    40.6865s  + 0.8420s
34.  EJ Viso              KV                       40.7063s  + 0.8618s
35.  Sebastian Saavedra   Conquest                 40.7129s  + 0.8684s
36.  Pippa Mann           Conquest                 40.7502s  + 0.9057s
37.  Alex Lloyd           Dale Coyne               40.8145s  + 0.9700s
38.  Mike Conway          Andretti                 41.0286s  + 1.1841s
39.  James Jakes          Dale Coyne               41.0780s  + 1.2335s

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