Dixon sets pace in second St. Petersburg practice

The early returns would say that Chip Ganassi's team is adapting nicely to Honda.

Scott Dixon set the pace in Friday afternoon's second practice session for Sunday's Firestone Grand Prix of St. Pete with a lap of 1m2.55s in his GE Honda, while teammates Tony Kanaan and Charlie Kimball were third and fourth fastest, respectively.

"Friday went well but it doesn't mean anything, we've just got to keep improving our car," said Dixon, who despite being IndyCar's winningest current driver with 40 victories has never won in 12 starts here (or on the streets of Long Beach).

Will Power, the polesitter here a year ago who wasn't able to race because of inner ear problems, wound up second fastest in his Verizon Chevy at 1m02.84s.

Kanaan ran 1m02.854s, Kimball 1m02.87s and Sebastien Bourdais rounded out the fast five at 1m02.905s.

The session began with Takuma Sato lost control exiting Turn 13 and hitting the wall on his out lap in his debut with Andretti Autosport. 

Next up: Final practice on Saturday at 10:50 a.m. ET, followed by qualifying and the Firestone Fast Six at 2:55 p.m. ET.