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Wilson tops rain-affected final practice

Justin Wilson set the pace in the final practice session for the latest round of the IndyCar Series at Mid-Ohio

The Dale Coyne Racing driver vied with his British compatriot Dario Franchitti as well as Scott Dixon, before he went to the top of the timesheets definitively after 20 minutes with a time of 1m07.478 - almost three quarters of a second quicker than Dixon's pace-setting time from Friday practice.

The onset of rain with 20 minutes of the hour-long session remaining prevented either of the Ganassi drivers from knocking Wilson off the top spot, Franchitti winding up second quickest - 0.2 seconds behind.

Around a third of the field returned to the track after the rain began to fall, each driver attempting to scrub-in a set of wet tyres as a precaution in case either qualifying or the race takes place in similar conditions.

Championship leader Ryan Briscoe was third quickest in the best of the Penske cars, with Graham Rahal (Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing) fourth.

Marco Andretti was the quickest of the Andretti-Green drivers in fifth, one spot ahead of the hugely impressive Raphael Matos (Luczo Dragon) and two ahead of Dixon, who slipped down the order as he sat in the pits in order to save a set of slicks for later.

Oriol Servia, who is returning to the series with NHLR following Robert Doornbos's switch to HVM, continued his re-acclimatisation in ninth.

It was a bad session for 2003 and 2005 series champions Tony Kanaan and Dan Wheldon. Kanaan (AGR) hit the barriers at the final corner after half an hour, damaging his nosecone, while Wheldon (Panther Racing) spun on slicks just as the rain began to fall.

Even worse befell Paul Tracy, a late call-up by KV Racing to replace Mario Moraes. Tracy ran wide exiting Turn Five on his out-lap and then spun across the circuit before stalling his engine on the grass. He then repeated the excursion, albeit without the stall, as the rain began to fall.

Pos  Driver             Team                 Time        Gap
 1.  Justin Wilson      Coyne                1m07.4779s
 2.  Dario Franchitti   Ganassi              1m07.6888s  + 0.2109s
 3.  Ryan Briscoe       Penske               1m07.6974s  + 0.2195s
 4.  Graham Rahal       Newman/Haas/Lanigan  1m07.9796s  + 0.5017s
 5.  Marco Andretti     Andretti Green       1m08.1374s  + 0.6595s
 6.  Raphael Matos      Luczo Dragon         1m08.2475s  + 0.7696s
 7.  Scott Dixon        Ganassi              1m08.3422s  + 0.8643s
 8.  Helio Castroneves  Penske               1m08.3590s  + 0.8811s
 9.  Oriol Servia       Newman/Haas/Lanigan  1m08.4617s  + 0.9838s
10.  Ryan Hunter-Reay   Foyt                 1m08.4686s  + 0.9907s
11.  Hideki Mutoh       Andretti Green       1m08.5195s  + 1.0416s
12.  Tony Kanaan        Andretti Green       1m08.6661s  + 1.1882s
13.  Dan Wheldon        Panther              1m09.0909s  + 1.6130s
14.  EJ Viso            HVM                  1m09.0931s  + 1.6152s
15.  Danica Patrick     Andretti Green       1m09.2663s  + 1.7884s
16.  Paul Tracy         KV                   1m09.5176s  + 2.0397s
17.  Ed Carpenter       Vision               1m09.5423s  + 2.0644s
18.  Richard Antinucci  3G                   1m09.6445s  + 2.1666s
19.  Robert Doornbos    HVM                  1m09.8583s  + 2.3804s
20.  Mike Conway        Dreyer & Reinbold    1m10.4172s  + 2.9393s
21.  Milka Duno         Dreyer & Reinbold    1m13.9824s  + 6.5045s

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