Takagi continues Toyota dominance

Takagi, circling the track during the final 30 minutes of Monday's practice session, was clocked at 229.019mph in his Toyota-powered Panoz G Force. The lap dropped Scott Sharp out of the top spot; Sharp had just knocked Scott Dixon off the top with a lap of 228.766mph in his Dallara-Toyota.

Toyota posted the top four laps during the second day of practice for the 87th running of the Indianapolis 500. The Japanese manufacturer also had the top three laps during Sunday's opening day.

"I think I was lucky," Takagi said. "Actually, the G Force/Toyota package is much better here. At high speed, the G Force is very good."

The G Force-Toyota package took three of the top four laps in Takagi, Dixon and Gil de Ferran. In fact, just nine of the 32 cars on the track Monday were G Force chassis, but six G Forces finished among the top 14.

Sharp, who had the fastest lap Sunday in his backup car, bounced Dixon's lap at 17:20 in the Kelley Racing No. 8 primary car. Minutes later, Takagi's Mo Nunn Racing No. 12 topped Sharp's lap.

"We're pleased where we're starting out," Sharp said. "But it is so early and it's too easy to get caught up in today's speed when tomorrow things will be totally different. Our goal is to have a good car day after day."

De Ferran continued the Marlboro Team Penske experiment with both chassis by turning a lap of 228.417mph in his G Force. Teammate Helio Castroneves ran both cars, getting up to 227.953mph in the Dallara and 226.958 in the G Force.

The practice session went without incident, marking the second consecutive day of accident-free laps at the speedway.