Wheldon Tops First Indy Practice
Dan Wheldon underlined his reputation as favourite for this month's Indianapolis 500 by posting the fastest time during the first day of official practice
The Andretti-Green Racing driver lapped the 2.5-mile superspeedway with an average of 226.808mph, beating Scott Sharp and twice Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves.
Wheldon, who also recorded the ninth fastest lap in his spare car, picked up $2,500 in prize money for securing the fastest lap.
"The biggest thing I notice is the competition level this year," Wheldon commented. "It seems very close, between not just the big teams but everyone. There are a lot of people that could be very, very competitive.
"With the testing restrictions that we have in the IRL, Indy enables people to spend a little more time to build up to speed and focus.
"To anyone that's not watched the Indianapolis 500 before - this will be a great year to start."
The track has been relaid since last year's race, which allowed 21 driver/car combinations to beat Buddy Rice's 2004 pole-winning speed of 222.024mph.
Pos Car Driver Make-Engine Speed (mph) 1. 26 Dan Wheldon Dallara-Honda 226.808 2. 8 Scott Sharp Panoz-Honda 226.609 3. 3 Helio Castroneves Dallara-Toyota 226.062 4. 11 Tony Kanaan Dallara-Honda 225.629 5. 55 Kosuke Matsuura Panoz-Honda 225.620 6. 27 Dario Franchitti Dallara-Honda 225.296 7. 33T Ryan Briscoe Panoz-Toyota 225.266 8. 4 Tomas Scheckter Dallara-Chevrolet 225.189 9. 26T Dan Wheldon Dallara-Honda 224.998 10. 17 Vitor Meira Panoz-Honda 224.172 11. 70 Richie Hearn Panoz-Chevrolet 223.824 12. 16 Danica Patrick Panoz-Honda 223.694 13. 8T Scott Sharp Panoz-Honda 223.664 14. 95 Buddy Lazier Dallara-Chevrolet 223.443 15. 36 Bruno Junqueira Panoz-Honda 223.350 16. 55T Kosuke Matsuura Panoz-Honda 223.205 17. 10T Darren Manning Panoz-Toyota 223.110 18. 15 Buddy Rice Panoz-Honda 223.077 19. 7 Bryan Herta Dallara-Honda 223.022 20. 6 Sam Hornish Jr. Dallara-Toyota 222.896 21. 4T Tomas Scheckter Dallara-Chevrolet 222.485 22. 15T Buddy Rice Panoz-Honda 221.671 23. 17T Vitor Meira Panoz-Honda 221.484 24. 16T Danica Patrick Panoz-Honda 221.322 25. 11T Tony Kanaan Dallara-Honda 221.304 26. 2T Tomas Enge Dallara-Chevrolet 221.276 27. 6T Sam Hornish Jr. Dallara-Toyota 220.035 28. 51 Alex Barron Dallara-Toyota 220.016 29. 83 Patrick Carpentier Dallara-Toyota 219.693 30. 9 Scott Dixon Dallara-Toyota 219.601 31. 7T Bryan Herta Dallara-Honda 219.397 32. 14 A.J. Foyt IV Dallara-Toyota 218.964 33. 83T Patrick Carpentier Dallara-Toyota 218.435 34. 24 Roger Yasukawa Dallara-Honda 218.387 35. 51T Alex Barron Dallara-Toyota 217.604 36. 20 Ed Carpenter Dallara-Toyota 216.700 37. 5 Adrian Fernandez Panoz-Honda 184.140 38. 22 Jeff Ward Dallara-Toyota 96.467 T = Spare Car
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