Mid-Ohio: Practice 1 times
Scott Dixon picked up in Mid-Ohio where he left off at Toronto, by topping the times and going fastest with a lap of 1:05.7096s (123.708mph) at the 13-turn, 2.258-mile permanent road course in Lexington.
Dixon was just under three hundredths faster than his Ganassi team mate Dario Franchitti, seemingly confirming that the powerhouse IZOD IndyCar Series team is getting back to something like its old form after an uncharacteristic slump in the first half of the 2013 season.
Three tenths off the pace of the Ganassis, Ryan Hunter-Reay was the fastest Chevrolet runner in third after the Andretti Autosport #1 had topped the mid-week open test session at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Wednesday. Simon Pagenaud also continued to look strong hear, claiming fourth spot for Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsport ahead of Hunter-Reay's team mate James Hinchcliffe and Dale Coyne Racing's Justin WIlson.
GP2 star Luca Filippi's spot in the #98 Barracuda Racing/Bryan Herta Autosport car for his maiden IndyCar race start this weekend in place of Alex Tagliani was finally confirmed shortly before the start of the 45 minute practice session. Still finding his way around the car as much as the circuit, Filippi placed 19th in the first practice session, which saw no stoppages.
Also set to make his series d?but this weekend is former Indy Lights star James Davison who will be in the #18 Dale Coyne Racing car. He posted the 21st fastest time in the session putting him ahead of James Jakes, Ed Carpenter and Takuma Sato.
Practice 1 times
1. #9 Scott Dixon Ganassi (H) 123.708mph 1:05.7096s (12 laps)
2. #10 Dario Franchitti Ganassi (H) 123.655mph 1:05.7375s + 0.0279s (11 laps)
3. #1 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti (C) 123.077mph 1:06.0464s + 0.3368s (11 laps)
4. #77 Simon Pagenaud Schmidt (H) 122.920mph 1:06.1308s + 0.4212s (15 laps)
5. #27 James Hinchcliffe Andretti (C) 122.788mph 1:06.2018s + 0.4922s (13 laps)
6. #19 Justin Wilson Dale Coyne (H) 122.716mph 1:06.2407s + 0.5311s (15 laps)
7. #25 Marco Andretti Andretti (C) 122.623mph 1:06.2911s + 0.5815s (11 laps)
8. #55 Tristan Vautier Schmidt (H) 122.524mph 1:06.3446s + 0.6350s (22 laps)
9. #3 Helio Castroneves Penske (C) 122.380mph 1:06.4224s + 0.7128s (15 laps)
10. #12 Will Power Penske (C) 122.307mph 1:06.4622s + 0.7526s (16 laps)
11. #15 Graham Rahal RLL (H) 122.180mph 1:06.5311s + 0.8215s (22 laps)
12. #5 EJ Viso Andretti-HVM (C) 122.179mph 1:06.5319s + 0.8223s (10 laps)
13. #67 Josef Newgarden SFHR (H) 122.092mph 1:06.5791s + 0.8695s (16 laps)
14. #7 Sebastien Bourdais Dragon (C) 122.045mph 1:06.6047s + 0.8951s (13 laps)
15. #83 Charlie Kimball Ganassi (H) 121.877mph 1:06.6970s + 0.9874s (12 laps)
16. #6 Sebastian Saavedra Dragon (C) 121.720mph 1:06.7827s + 1.0731s (20 laps)
17. #11 Tony Kanaan KV Racing (C) 121.693mph 1:06.7978s + 1.0882s (14 laps)
18. #78 Simona De Silvestro KV Racing (C) 121.671mph 1:06.8099s + 1.1003s (15 laps)
19. #98 Luca Filippi BHA (H) 121.537mph 1:06.8836s + 1.1740s (13 laps)
20. #4 Oriol Servi? Panther (C) 121.419mph 1:06.9481s + 1.2385s (14 laps)
21. #18 James Davison Dale Coyne (H) 121.159mph 1:07.0919s + 1.3823s (24 laps)
22. #16 James Jakes RLL (H) 120.736mph 1:07.3270s + 1.6174s (14 laps)
23. #20 Ed Carpenter Ed Carpenter (C) 120.102mph 1:07.6823s + 1.9727s (26 laps)
24. #14 Takuma Sato AJ Foyt (H) 119.273mph 1:08.1527s + 2.4431s (13 laps)
Total laps: 367
