With a 49-point championship lead in hand, Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves will need to hold off a group of drivers intent on snatching the title from his grasp, but based on his speed during Tuesday’s test at Fontana, he could be hard to catch at the season finale.

The Brazilian’s 218.3mph fast lap around the 2.0-mile Auto Club Speedway oval in Southern California was well clear of Andretti Autosport’s Marco Andretti’s 216.9mph tour on a day where rising ambient temperatures saw some of the 23 drivers in action post their best laps during the morning session.

Chevy drivers posted the four fastest times on Tuesday, with Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, who sits second in the championship, running the fastest lap for the Honda continent with a 216.2 mph lap, which was good enough for fifth.

Three spins were executed at Fontana, with Ganassi’s Charlie Kimball the only one to come away unscathed. A.J. Foyt Racing’s Takuma Sato did light damage to his rear wheel guard during a spin while exiting the pits and Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing’s Josef Newgarden brushed the wall during his rotation, and like Sato, only minor damage was incurred.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal, who set the slowest speed of the day, encountered engine issues at the beginning of the test and ran very few laps before parking his car.

Honda’s brand-new twin-turbo V6 engine turned approximately 50 laps during the afternoon with Schmidt Hamilton Racing’s Simon Pagenaud at the controls. No issues were reported and speeds in the high 211mph range were set by the Frenchman in a spare SPM chassis.

“I can’t discuss the engine, but it was a good outing and I’m very proud to have been the first driver to test the engine for Honda,” Pagenaud told RACER. “I have done a lot of development driving for the Honda Performance Development guys in the past, especially in sports cars, and I hope I get to do more with this engine.”

Testing speeds (All unofficial)