Ganassi dominates opening practice session at Texas

It feels good rolling off the truck and doing 219 miles per hour.

Or at least it should for Tony Kanaan.

Kanaan led the first practice session for the Firestone 600 race at Texas Motor Speedway for the Verizon IndyCar Series.

Two of his teammates were right behind him in second and third, but Scott Dixon was just over one mile per hour behind while Ryan Briscoe was another half mile per hour behind in third.

Dual in Detroit winners Will Power and Helio Castroneves clocked in tenth and fifth, respectively, while Indianapolis 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay ended the session 12th. Power described how his car would have to be set up over the course of the race.

“You’ve got to try to get a good balance over the whole run, that’s the thing. It starts with a lot of push and then loose at the end,” Power said.

Rather surprising on the practice list was Sebastien Bourdais in 18th place. Bourdais had won the International Race of Champions (IROC) event at TMS in 2005, but this is only his second IndyCar race at TMS. Bourdais expressed concern over the bumps in turns one and two.

“It upsets the car a little bit but it really hurts the feel you get inside the car. You really need the car to be dialed in. If you go over that with a bit too much understeer or a car that’s pretty free, it’s a good way to lose it,” Bourdais said.