Alex Palou set the benchmark with a 227.546 mph best lap in the #10 Honda on his 68th lap, well clear of the #12 Chevy of Will Power on a 225.584 mph session best.

Josef Newgarden (Team Penske) and Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing) were third and fourth respectively while hometown hero Conor Daly was the best of the rest in fifth for Juncos Holinger Racing.

David Malukas (AJ Foyt Racing), Marcus Armstrong (Meyer Shank Racing), Helio Castroneves (Meyer Shank Racing), Jack Harvey (Dreyer & Reinbold Racing), and Christian Rasmussen (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) completed the top 10.

Interestingly, seven of the top eight times were either set by Team Penske or Chip Ganassi Racing drivers or drivers affiliated with those teams. AJ Foyt Racing and Meyer Shank Racing have technical alliances with Penske and Ganassi respectively.

New Zealand’s other interest, Scott McLaughlin, wound up 16th with a best lap of 223.545 mph.

Last year’s pole position winner expressed his satisfaction with Thursday’s running.

“Felt like late race last year. Happy hour is always a different kettle of fish,” said McLaughlin of running in traffic at the end of day two.

“It was nice to go out there and just do a full tank run and the car felt really good.

“We made a couple of little changes along the way just to see what the difference was there.

“We’ve had a really good couple of days so ideally we just keep this momentum going.

“It’s going to get a little bit warmer in the next couple of days, so this is good running for us right now.”

Of the no tow times, Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood stood atop the pile ahead of Rasmussen and Ed Carpenter Racing’s Alexander Rossi.

Andretti entries rounded out the top five no tow runners with Colton Herta and Marco Andretti fourth and fifth respectively.

Thursday’s action was relatively incident-free, bar interruptions for rain.

Practice is set to continue on Friday though the threat of rain still looms.

Results: 109th Indianapolis 500, Practice 3