And now we wait.
The final practice session before Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 ended with Dario Franchitti on top with a speed of 225.574 m.p.h. He was followed by Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon (225.159) and Team Penske’s Will Power (224.993).
Franchitti felt very confident about his chances, saying that he’s “very happy” about the car’s balance in race trim.
“It seems pretty quick,” said Franchitti. “And both Target cars have good speed in ’em. Balance-wise, I was very happy with the car in those conditions. It’s gonna get warmer for Race Day, so we’ll have to adjust for that and try to make the right call.”
The two-time IZOD IndyCar Series champion also said he tried out a push-to-pass boost in the session to see what kind of effect it had on his machine. Each driver will have fifteen boosts (lasting 18 seconds each) in the race.
“That’s gonna be the trick, isn’t it,” he said about a proper strategy for using them. “Do you use it on restarts? Do you use it at the start? You gotta keep some for close to the end, because it has an effect. We’ll go back then and smarter people than me will come up with a plan, and we’ll try to stick to that.”
FAZZT Race Team’s Bruno Junqueira was fourth-fastest with a lap at 224.898 m.p.h. Pole sitter and defending champion Helio Castroneves rounded out the top five at 224.753 m.p.h.
