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Will Power and Penske step up the pace in Indianapolis 500 practice

Penske and Chevrolet jumped to the top of the order for the first time in 2016 Indianapolis 500 practice with Will Power on the final day of running before qualifying

Power's 232.672mph effort came on his 24th of 32 laps on 'Fast Friday' and put him ahead of fellow Chevy runner Josef Newgarden's 232.344mph for Ed Carpenter Racing.

"Yes, I got a good tow," Power said.

"Even when the car is out of traffic, it was pretty good, pretty solid. I think it's fast.

"I think it's going to be really, really tight for pole. There are a lot of quick guys out there and I think Honda is right there, too."

Power said Penske's low-key results earlier in the week were due to its focus on race trim.

"We've been working on the race set-up, obviously," Power said.

"When we're running race downforce, you can definitely get like a five-car tow type of thing and put out some good speeds.

"But I think in qualifying it's good this year because you really are on the limit.

"Your foot starts shaking on the throttle, you know you kind of trimmed a little bit much, which is how it should be."

James Hinchcliffe led a flurry of Honda runners in positions third to 11th, ahead of Andretti Autosport's Carlos Munoz, Marco Andretti, Townsend Bell and 2014 Indianapolis 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Schmidt Peterson driver Hinchcliffe was not surprised to see Power leap to the top.

"He's in a Penske," Hinchcliffe said. "I'm not surprised at all.

"That's what they do here. Roger Penske didn't win 15 Indianapolis 500s without knowing when to show his speed. It's never a surprise to see one of them up there."

Hinchcliffe was pleased with the speed he was able to get from his Honda and said the team will not participate in Saturday morning's practice session.

"We're going to see some quick times," Hinchcliffe said. "We still have a little bit of speed to find in our car but we've had a hell of a run so far.

"We aren't going to run in the morning. We're ready to go."

Eighteen cars turned laps over 230mph and nine over 231mph on Friday.

The real key to potential entering Saturday's first round of single-car qualifications was the 'no tow report'.

Bell led that one at 231.342mph followed by Power at 231.339mph, and Hunter-Reay at 231.284mph.

Drivers can make multiple qualifying attempts during Saturday's first round, which runs from 11am to 5.50pm local time.

The fastest nine cars from Saturday go into a pole position shootout on Sunday, after the rest of the field have fought for positions 11-33 in the group one qualifying session.

FRIDAY PRACTICE RESULTS

Pos Driver Team Car Speed Time Laps
1 Will Power Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 232.672 38.6810s 32
2 Josef Newgarden Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 232.344 38.7356s 58
3 James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 231.972 38.7978s 37
4 Carlos Munoz Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 231.952 38.8012s 31
5 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 231.824 38.8226s 54
6 Townsend Bell Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 231.559 38.8670s 29
7 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 231.284 38.9132s 41
8 Gabby Chaves Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 231.136 38.9381s 43
9 Mikhail Aleshin Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 231.064 38.9502s 41
10 Alexander Rossi Andretti Herta Dallara/Honda 230.848 38.9867s 59
11 Oriol Servia Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 230.757 39.0020s 35
12 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 230.465 39.0514s 29
13 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 230.442 39.0554s 27
14 J.R. Hildebrand Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 230.346 39.0717s 38
15 Helio Castroneves Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 230.333 39.0739s 29
16 Ed Carpenter Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 230.234 39.0907s 47
17 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 230.140 39.1067s 46
18 Juan Pablo Montoya Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 230.051 39.1217s 17
19 Pippa Mann Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 229.918 39.1444s 30
20 Tony Kanaan Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 229.753 39.1725s 39
21 Sebastien Bourdais KVSH Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 229.610 39.1969s 42
22 Jack Hawksworth AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Honda 229.565 39.2046s 35
23 Max Chilton Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 229.451 39.2240s 46
24 Matthew Brabham Team Murray Dallara/Chevrolet 229.253 39.2580s 57
25 Conor Daly Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 229.187 39.2693s 53
26 Spencer Pigot Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 229.125 39.2799s 66
27 Takuma Sato AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Honda 228.926 39.3141s 44
28 Charlie Kimball Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 228.867 39.3241s 26
29 Alex Tagliani AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Honda 228.593 39.3713s 41
30 Sage Karam Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 228.017 39.4707s 50
31 Bryan Clauson Jonathan Byrd's Racing Dallara/Honda 227.805 39.5074s 37
32 Stefan Wilson KVSH Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 226.567 39.7234s 40
33 Buddy Lazier Lazier Burns Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 225.683 39.8789s 47


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