Takuma Sato stole the show in third practice, with the fastest time of the session at 1:01.5293. Despite his pace, Honda only had three cars in the top ten. Chevrolet controlled most of the session and Will Power was second, 0.2093 seconds back of Sato. James Hinchcliffe was the fastest from Andretti Autosport in 3rd, followed by Tony Kanaan, Sebastián Saavedra, Marco Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay.
The Hondas of Dario Franchitti and Josef Newgarden were 8th and 9th respectively, with Simona de Silvestro rounding out the top ten. Graham Rahal was 11th, ahead of Bourdais, Dixon, Jakes and Vautier.
Other notables in the session were Helio Castroneves in 16th, Justin Wilson in 19th, Simon Pagenaud in 20th and Alex Tagliani in 21st.
The first accident of the IndyCar season occurred when EJ Viso had a accident down the bay front straightaway. He was able to get out of the car on his own power. The cause of the accident is believed to be a suspension failure. His fastest time of the session was 1:03.0992, good for 23rd in the session.
Should the times carry over to qualifying, the results of the first round qualifying groups will go as followed:
Group 1: Advancing to Fast 12: Hinchcliffe, Saavedra, Andretti, Hunter-Reay, Rahal, Bourdais. Not Advancing: Castroneves, Serviá, Wilson, Pagenaud, Tagliani, Carpenter.
Group 2: Advancing to Fast 12: Sato, Power, Kanaan, Franchitti, Newgarden, de Silvestro. Not Advancing: Dixon, Jakes, Vautier, Hildebrand, Kimball, Viso, Beatriz.
Qualifying takes place at 2:05pm, with coverage starting at 2:30pm on NBC Sports Network.
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