Thursday’s practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was the debut for Sebastien Bourdais, Katherine Legge, and Dragon Racing. The team pushed the number six car out to pit lane at 8 am, which was powered by Chevrolet.

Bourdais turned 28 laps in 90 minutes, with his best lap at 209.680 mph. Legge began her rookie orientation and had the track to herself until 1 pm. She consistently turned laps around 202 mph and complained of severe understeer. She will also have the track to herself from 6:00 to 6:40 tonight after practice.

Scott Dixon was fastest today, turning his best lap with 20 minutes remaining in practice. The 2008 Indy 500 winner posted a speed of 223.088 mph. Newgarden, Rahal, Power, and Wilson round out the fastest five from Thursday’s practice.

The two Lotus machines were still considerably behind the others. Alesi’s best lap was 207.489 while Simona’s was just 205.690 mph. It was a quiet day for the Andretti cars, as engineers spent the afternoon working on qualifying setups. Bourdais took his number 7 car out for 21 laps, reaching a best of 214.715 mph on lap 15

It was another busy Happy Hour as we saw many cars on track, most likely putting a cap on race setups. Tomorrow’s practice will feature the extra turbo boost, so teams will be working on qualifying setups. It should be interesting to see how much track time each car gets, and if they can avoid getting a tow. It is the final practice before Pole Day on Saturday.

Practice for Fast Friday runs from noon until 6 pm, with the Qualification Draw taking place at 6:15 at the Coke Stage behind the Pagoda.