Kanaan puts Foyt on top in Indy testing with 226mph run

When Pagenaud and Ed Carpenter joined Dixon in the 224mph bracket Kanaan elevated the legendary Foyt #14 to  a 225.323mph. When Dixon and Pagenaud also broke through the 225 barrier, Kanaan hit the top with a 226.181, and his speedtrap figure – set at the end of the back straight – was a 235.245.

No less significant was that Kanaan also took the fastest lap without the aid of a tow – a 223.240mph.

Pagenaud’s 225.910 was just enough to withstand a late run from the best of the Andretti Autosport drivers – and best Honda – of Marco Andretti, who set a 225.637.

That was just 0.007mph faster than the highly impressive Gabby Chaves of Harding Racing-Chevrolet, who lapped faster than Scott Dixon’s Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda and Sebastien Bourdais, who was turning his first laps at IMS since he drilled the Turn 2 wall with his Dale Coyne Racing-Honda in practice last year.

The Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevys of Spencer Pigot and Ed Carpenter were seventh and ninth, split by the second Ganassi car of Ed Jones, and Pigot was also second fastest in the no-tow rankings.

Helio Castroneves, Will Power and Josef Newgarden were 10th, 12th and 14th, the latter turning the most laps in the afternoon session (89) and also trying out Power’s front wing.

Both Carlin-Chevrolets made excellent progress in the afternoon, Charlie Kimball and Max Chilton both nudging past the 223mph barrier into 13th and 16th although their no-tow speeds were 19th and 21st.

Tomorrow’s testing will be for rookies and refreshers, and will feature Pietro Fittipaldi (Coyne), Jay Howard (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports), Kyle Kaiser (Juncos Racing), Sage Karam (Dreyer & Reinbold), Matheus Leist (Foyt), Danica Patrick (Carpenter) and Robert Wickens (Schmidt Peterson).