Jaques Lazier created something of a stir after pushing the #21 Playa Del Racing Panoz into fifth spot, ahead of two pre-race favourites, Scott Dixon and reigning champion Sam Hornish Jr.
"We tried a few different things to make sure we were in the right ballpark - and they were all worse, so I guess that's a good thing," Dixon reasoned, making light of trailing the unfancied Lazier, "We were just trying to run in traffic to make sure the car is good in those situations. All of it went pretty well. It is hard to tell what speeds are true speeds, and who had less wing, so we just worked on being comfortable in traffic."
"I feel pretty good about the race set-up on the Team Penske car," Hornish said, "We were able to run in traffic today, so now we just have to see how things play out during the race. There are a lot of fast cars out there, so I think we've definitely got our work cut out for us, but I'm excited for the race, and I think we have a definite shot at earning a second Indy 500 win.
"It's not always the fastest car in the field that wins the race, it's the driver who plays it smart and brings it home at the end. We just have to go out there, get in a rhythm and settle in. It's a long race, and we want to make sure we're there to fight it out in the final laps."
The top ten was rounded out by AGR's Danica Patrick, outside tip Ryan Briscoe and Vision Racing hopeful Tomas Scheckter. Patrick reported that she was happier with her car than she had been for much of the month, while Briscoe - with whom the AGR racer has had a war of words in the media - admitted to be surprised at still being able to do set-up work so close to the race.
"The key thing was to get a bit of practice in the draft," the Australian revealed, "I missed out on quite a bit of the draft practice last week [due to leaving for ALMS race], but everyone was out there, and I got some big tows and a good feel for what it's going to be like in the race."
