Graham Rahal was the pace-setter on the third day of practice for the Indianapolis 500 as JR Hildebrand became the first driver this fortnight to hit the wall.
Rahal hit at an average 226.047mph (363.787km/h) on his second lap of the day around Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the #15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda.
He didn’t go any faster in his following 100 laps, but the time stood up as the best of the day, just ahead of a similarly early effort from Tony Kanaan (#14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet).
Marco Andretti (#98 Andretti-Herta w/ Curb-Agajanian Honda) remains the fastest driver so far this week, courtesy of his personal best a day earlier, and was third on Thursday at the Brickyard.
Ed Carpenter (#20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet) and Sage Karam (#24 Dreyer & Reinbold Chevrolet) rounded out the top five, with 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series champion Josef Newgarden (#1 Team Penske Chevrolet) sixth.
Scott Dixon (#9 Chip Ganassi Honda) was 12th and Will Power 13th, though the latter set the fastest non-tow lap of 223.971mph (360.446km/h) in the #12 Team Penske Chevrolet.
James Davison ended the day 29th in the #33 Foyt w/ Byrd-Hollinger-Belardi Chevrolet.
Hildebrand got the wall at Turn 3 during the first half-hour of the day, causing minor damage to the right-hand side of the #66 Dreyer & Reinbold Chevrolet.
Practice continues tomorrow with another seven hours from 0100 AEST, before qualifying begins on Saturday (local time).
Highlights: Practice: Day 3
Results: Practice: Day 3
| Pos | Num | Driver | C/E/T | Time | Avg speed (mph) | Total laps |
| 1 | 15 | Graham Rahal | D/H/F | 0:39.8148 | 226.047 | 102 |
| 2 | 14 | Tony Kanaan | D/C/F | 0:39.8414 | 225.896 | 62 |
| 3 | 98 | Marco Andretti | D/H/F | 0:39.8964 | 225.584 | 86 |
| 4 | 20 | Ed Carpenter | D/C/F | 0:39.9834 | 225.093 | 97 |
| 5 | 24 | Sage Karam | D/C/F | 0:40.0142 | 224.920 | 72 |
| 6 | 1 | Josef Newgarden | D/C/F | 0:40.0510 | 224.713 | 75 |
| 7 | 19 | Zachary Claman DeMelo (R) | D/H/F | 0:40.0596 | 224.665 | 60 |
| 8 | 3 | Helio Castroneves | D/C/F | 0:40.0757 | 224.575 | 110 |
| 9 | 21 | Spencer Pigot | D/C/F | 0:40.1336 | 224.251 | 86 |
| 10 | 88 | Gabby Chaves | D/C/F | 0:40.1463 | 224.180 | 73 |
| 11 | 22 | Simon Pagenaud | D/C/F | 0:40.1502 | 224.158 | 87 |
| 12 | 9 | Scott Dixon | D/H/F | 0:40.1834 | 223.973 | 98 |
| 13 | 12 | Will Power | D/C/F | 0:40.1837 | 223.971 | 90 |
| 14 | 4 | Matheus Leist (R) | D/C/F | 0:40.2242 | 223.746 | 59 |
| 15 | 18 | Sebastien Bourdais | D/H/F | 0:40.2340 | 223.691 | 82 |
| 16 | 64 | Oriol Servia | D/H/F | 0:40.2431 | 223.641 | 62 |
| 17 | 7 | Jay Howard | D/H/F | 0:40.2493 | 223.606 | 73 |
| 18 | 60 | Jack Harvey | D/H/F | 0:40.2584 | 223.556 | 94 |
| 19 | 10 | Ed Jones | D/H/F | 0:40.2903 | 223.379 | 79 |
| 20 | 66 | JR Hildebrand | D/C/F | 0:40.2954 | 223.351 | 57 |
| 21 | 23 | Charlie Kimball | D/C/F | 0:40.3002 | 223.324 | 32 |
| 22 | 27 | Alexander Rossi | D/H/F | 0:40.3625 | 222.979 | 85 |
| 23 | 29 | Carlos Munoz | D/H/F | 0:40.3627 | 222.978 | 78 |
| 24 | 6 | Robert Wickens (R) | D/H/F | 0:40.3793 | 222.886 | 63 |
| 25 | 32 | Kyle Kaiser (R) | D/C/F | 0:40.4023 | 222.760 | 91 |
| 26 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | D/H/F | 0:40.4102 | 222.716 | 92 |
| 27 | 59 | Max Chilton | D/C/F | 0:40.4191 | 222.667 | 45 |
| 28 | 25 | Stefan Wilson | D/H/F | 0:40.4684 | 222.396 | 96 |
| 29 | 33 | James Davison | D/C/F | 0:40.4890 | 222.283 | 81 |
| 30 | 13 | Danica Patrick | D/C/F | 0:40.5011 | 222.216 | 68 |
| 31 | 5 | James Hinchcliffe | D/H/F | 0:40.5118 | 222.157 | 83 |
| 32 | 63 | Pippa Mann | D/H/F | 0:40.5198 | 222.114 | 69 |
| 33 | 30 | Takuma Sato | D/H/F | 0:40.5815 | 221.776 | 89 |
| 34 | 17 | Conor Daly | D/H/F | 0:40.6168 | 221.583 | 89 |
| 35 | 26 | Zach Veach | D/H/F | 0:40.6608 | 221.343 | 106 |
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