Interestingly, Power's nearest competitors – Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda’s Graham Rahal and Power’s Team Penske teammate Juan Pablo Montoya – were the drivers who joined him on the podium at this track last year.

Power’s best was a 1min09.8943sec, an average speed of 125.624mph around this 2.439-mile track, which eclipsed Rahal by 0.1756sec, with Montoya a further 0.23sec adrift.

Another Penske driver, Helio Castroneves, had a spin and stall just before pit entry, which brought out the red flags with nine minutes to go, but he bounced back immediately to end the session fifth, just behind teammate and championship leader Simon Pagenaud.

Defending series champion Scott Dixon completed fewer laps than any other frontrunner, but still nailed P6 in the Chip Ganassi Racing-Chevy.

Marco Andretti and Carlos Munoz put their Andretti Autosport-Hondas in the top 10, with their rookie teammate Alexander Rossi also showing well with 13th.

However, of the various series rookies and returnees, Spencer Pigot was the star. The reigning Indy Lights champion, who will make only his second IndyCar start this weekend, set 12th fastest time on his final lap of the track, roughly half a second off RLLR teammate Rahal.

Gabby Chaves did a fine job on his return as he replaces Luca Filippi for the Month of May in the Dale Coyne Racing-Honda #19, taking 16th compared with teammate Conor Daly in 20th.

JR Hildebrand (Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevy) and Alex Tagliani (AJ Foyt Racing-Honda) are currently around 1sec off their respective teammates, although the latter completed only eight laps.

However, they were happier than series debutant Matt Brabham who missed most of the session due to a loose rear-wheel that played havoc with the differential and gearbox on the Pirtek Team Murray KVSH Racing-Chevrolet.

Yet the American-Australian’s three laps were three more than James Hinchcliffe achieved in the Schmidt Peterson Motorsport #5, the Canadian stymied by an engine issue.

First practice for Angie's List Grand Prix of Indianapolis

		Pilote	Équipe	Écart
1	12	Will Power	Penske (C)	1:09.8943
2	15	Graham Rahal	Rahal (H)	+0.1756
3	2	Juan Pablo Montoya	Penske (C)	+0.4085
4	22	Simon Pagenaud	Penske (C)	+0.4505
5	3	Helio Castroneves	Penske (C)	+0.4808
6	9	Scott Dixon	Ganassi (C)	+0.4836
7	21	Josef Newgarden	Carpenter (C)	+0.4869
8	27	Marco Andretti	Andretti (H)	+0.5024
9	11	Sébastien Bourdais	KVSH (C)	+0.5074
10	26	Carlos Muñoz	Andretti (H)	+0.6352
11	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti (H)	+0.6504
12	16	Spencer Pigot	Rahal (H)	+0.6517
13	98	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Herta (H)	+0.7040
14	41	Jack Hawksworth	Foyt (H)	+0.7378
15	7	Mikhail Aleshin	Schmidt (H)	+0.7569
16	19	Gabby Chaves	Coyne (H)	+0.7949
17	8	Max Chilton	Ganassi (C)	+0.8121
18	83	Charlie Kimball	Ganassi (C)	+0.8169
19	14	Takuma Sato	Foyt (H)	+0.8614
20	18	Conor Daly	Coyne (H)	+0.9602
21	10	Tony Kanaan	Ganassi (C)	+0.9617
22	6	J.R. Hildebrand	Carpenter (C)	+1.5145
23	35	Alex Tagliani	Foyt (H)	+1.9818
24	61	Matthew Brabham	KV/Murray (C)	+4.8589