Target Chip Ganassi Racing exerted their authority over main IRL IndyCar Series championship rivals Marlboro Team Penske in pre qualifying practice at the Kentucky Speedway on Saturday.

With little time to get their set-ups straight around the 1.5-mile Kentucky oval, TCGR seemed to hit the nail on the head best of all as Dan Wheldon led the opening session and Scott Dixon led the final session with the quickest time of the weekend thus far.

Dixon therefore led Wheldon on the combined report, with Penske teammates Helio Castroneves and Sam Hornish Jr trailing behind in third and fourth places respectively, albeit less than one tenth of a second slower than their main rivals.

Fernandez Racing duo Scott Sharp and Kosuke Matsuura set fifth and sixth fastest times with Dario Franchitti seventh in the best of the Andretti-Green entries, Vitor Meira eighth in the lone Panther Racing machine and Vision Racing duo Tomas Scheckter and Ed Carpenter rounding out the top ten.

Danica Patrick was 15th fastest overall with Sarah Fisher playing herself back in gently with 17th fastest time.

Qualifying for the Meijer Indy 300 takes place later on Saturday.