Former Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan paced the final practice session for this year’s running of the classic race.
The 2013 Indy victor was very pleased with the speed of his #14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet after he reached 225.517mph (362.934km/h) during the 90-minute ‘Carb Day’ session.
Kanaan and the Foyt team often struggled in 2019 until his team-mate and fellow Brazilian Mattheus Leist broke through for a fourth-place finish two weeks ago in the IndyCar Grand Prix on the IMS road course.
With oval tracks generally Foyt’s forte, it was a morale boost to top the speed charts heading into the biggest race of the year.
“We worked in traffic a lot, trying to find grip and scan through some of the items that we had on the to-do list,” said Kanaan.
“I wasn’t really happy with my car on Monday and I was extremely vocal about it to my engineers.
“I think they heard me because we made it a lot better today.”
Dale Coyne Racing placed its three Honda-powered entries in the top six on Carb Day as rookie Santino Ferrucci ran second to Kanaan at 225.486mph (362.885km/h).
James Davison was fifth fastest in the #33 Belardi/Coyne car, just ahead of Sebastien Bourdais in the #18.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Hondas also showed strength in race trim as 2017 Indy winner Takuma Sato was third quick and rookie Jordan King fourth.
Will Power was best of the four Team Penske Chevrolets, clocking in 10th fastest at 224.240mph (360.879km/h).
Pole-sitting team-mate Simon Pagenaud matched his car number in 22nd place.
Scott Dixon was 19th in a Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing, and declared himself mystified by his car’s performance.
“There is a fundamental issue on the car and we’ll work to find out what happened there,” he remarked in a television interview.
“I hope we find something wrong with the car because it wasn’t great.
“It’s really bizarre, and nothing like we had all month, so we are unsure.”
The 103rd Indianapolis 500 is scheduled to start at 0215 AEST on Monday.
Results: Carb Day Practice
| Pos | Num | Driver | C/E/T | Time | Avg speed | Laps | |
| mph | km/h | ||||||
| 1 | 14 | Tony Kanaan | D/C/F | 0:39.9083 | 225.517 | 362.934 | 40 |
| 2 | 19 | Santino Ferrucci (R) | D/H/F | 0:39.9137 | 225.486 | 362.885 | 64 |
| 3 | 30 | Takuma Sato | D/H/F | 0:39.9170 | 225.468 | 362.856 | 64 |
| 4 | 42 | Jordan King (R) | D/H/F | 0:39.9402 | 225.337 | 362.645 | 64 |
| 5 | 33 | James Davison | D/H/F | 0:39.9443 | 225.314 | 362.608 | 55 |
| 6 | 18 | Sebastien Bourdais | D/H/F | 0:39.9488 | 225.288 | 362.566 | 55 |
| 7 | 27 | Alexander Rossi | D/H/F | 0:40.0548 | 224.692 | 361.607 | 44 |
| 8 | 23 | Charlie Kimball | D/C/F | 0:40.0623 | 224.650 | 361.539 | 46 |
| 9 | 88 | Colton Herta (R) | D/H/F | 0:40.0843 | 224.527 | 361.341 | 59 |
| 10 | 12 | Will Power | D/C/F | 0:40.1356 | 224.240 | 360.879 | 59 |
| 11 | 5 | James Hinchcliffe | D/H/F | 0:40.1514 | 224.152 | 360.738 | 48 |
| 12 | 3 | Helio Castroneves | D/C/F | 0:40.1617 | 224.094 | 360.644 | 49 |
| 13 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | D/C/F | 0:40.1945 | 223.911 | 360.350 | 72 |
| 14 | 21 | Spencer Pigot | D/C/F | 0:40.1956 | 223.905 | 360.340 | 49 |
| 15 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | D/H/F | 0:40.2389 | 223.664 | 359.952 | 38 |
| 16 | 25 | Conor Daly | D/H/F | 0:40.2398 | 223.659 | 359.944 | 53 |
| 17 | 15 | Graham Rahal | D/H/F | 0:40.2611 | 223.541 | 359.754 | 63 |
| 18 | 20 | Ed Carpenter | D/C/F | 0:40.2718 | 223.481 | 359.658 | 46 |
| 19 | 9 | Scott Dixon | D/H/F | 0:40.2887 | 223.388 | 359.508 | 54 |
| 20 | 10 | Felix Rosenqvist (R) | D/H/F | 0:40.3207 | 223.210 | 359.222 | 65 |
| 21 | 60 | Jack Harvey | D/H/F | 0:40.3628 | 222.978 | 358.848 | 56 |
| 22 | 22 | Simon Pagenaud | D/C/F | 0:40.3848 | 222.856 | 358.652 | 64 |
| 23 | 98 | Marco Andretti | D/H/F | 0:40.3906 | 222.824 | 358.600 | 43 |
| 24 | 48 | JR Hildebrand | D/C/F | 0:40.4018 | 222.762 | 358.501 | 44 |
| 25 | 7 | Marcus Ericsson (R) | D/H/F | 0:40.4024 | 222.759 | 358.496 | 54 |
| 26 | 39 | Pippa Mann | D/C/F | 0:40.4275 | 222.621 | 358.274 | 60 |
| 27 | 77 | Oriol Servia | D/H/F | 0:40.4290 | 222.612 | 358.259 | 61 |
| 28 | 26 | Zach Veach | D/H/F | 0:40.4346 | 222.582 | 358.211 | 59 |
| 29 | 24 | Sage Karam | D/C/F | 0:40.4585 | 222.450 | 357.999 | 41 |
| 30 | 4 | Matheus Leist | D/C/F | 0:40.5037 | 222.202 | 357.599 | 50 |
| 31 | 63 | Ed Jones | D/C/F | 0:40.5201 | 222.112 | 357.455 | 58 |
| 32 | 32 | Kyle Kaiser | D/C/F | 0:40.5956 | 221.699 | 356.790 | 42 |
| 33 | 81 | Ben Hanley (R) | D/C/F | 0:40.9614 | 219.719 | 353.603 | 36 |
(C)hassis: D=Dallara | (E)ngine: C=Chevy, H=Honda | (T)yre: F=Firestone
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