Penske powers to top three in Indy 500 practice

Toowoomba star Will Power led Team Penske to a sweep of the top three fastest times in opening practice for the Indianapolis 500 later this month.

A day after the inaugural grand prix of Indianapolis on the road course, 24 of the 33 cars entered for the famous 500 on the superspeedway turned laps in the session which ran from noon to 6pm local time.

Power completed 82 tours of the ‘Brickyard’ to establish a best lap of 40.3485s at a speed of 223.057mph (358.98km/h).

Returning for the first time since his victory in 2000 when he was Chip Ganassi’s pin-up boy, Juan Pablo Montoya was second fastest in 222.502mph (358.08km/h).

Helio Castroneves, running the #3 in the famous Pennzoil livery, turned the most laps of any driver with 83 to post the third best time in 222.373mph (357.87km/h).

JR Hildebrand (#21 Preferred Freezer/Ed Carpenter) was fourth ahead of Ryan Hunter-Reay in the #28 Andretti Autosport car.

EJ Viso shook down James Hinchcliffe’s #27 and produced a best lap of 222.105mph (357.44km/h).

Hinchcliffe was stood down after suffering concussion when struck by debris in the Indy GP on Saturday.

“It’s great to have EJ step in because he’s plug and play for us,” team owner Michael Andretti said.

“We thank him for the help.”

The 29-year-old Venezuelan finished 13th in the 2013 standings after missing the season finale at California’s Auto Club Speedway due to illness.

NASCAR star Kurt Busch was 12th fastest while 1995 Indy 500 winner Jacques Villeneuve was 14th.

Recently announced KV entry James Davison was one of nine drivers entered who did not take part in the six-hour session.

The other Australian in the field, full-time Ganassi driver Ryan Briscoe, completed the day 16th on the time sheets.

Practice and qualifying continues on Saturday, May 17 ahead of pole day a day later with the 200-lap race scheduled for May 25.

See below for opening Indy 500 practice results