Indy 500, Libere 7: Marco Andretti salta davanti a tutti

Marco Andretti set the fastest time of the month to claim the top spot on Fast Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway - the final full day of practice before Indy 500 qualifying. The Andretti Autosport driver produced a quickest lap of 39.5535s (227.540mph) on what was the first day that teams were allowed to run the additional 10 kPa of boost (equivalent to 40-50bhp) that will be utilised for qualifying and Bump Day. "Today was a big day for us," Andretti said. "I thought we were at a bit of deficit to my team-mates to start the month, but we just kept rubbing on it, we never gave up, and we kind of woke the car up. And obviously with this added boost today, it woke my car up, in particular, as well. "But we've been working really hard, too, and finding that every couple of tenths of a mile an hour, and it all adds up." Penske's Ryan Briscoe was best of the rest at 226.835mph, putting him just ahead of team-mate Helio Castroneves (226.716mph) and Andretti's Ryan Hunter-Reay (226400mph). Ganassi's Scott Dixon was the fastest of the Honda-powered drivers in fourth with a 226.224mph lap, while the Lotus-powered drivers Jean Alesi and Simona de Silvestro reported small gains, but still found themselves 13mph off the frontrunning pace.