POWER SETS THE PACE

Any day on top of the timesheets at Indianapolis is a good one, even if running is restricted by rain, thunder and lightning.

Veteran Aussie, Will Power, did the job when The Speedway opened for the first official practice session ahead of this year's Indianapolis 500.

“I think we’ve got a pretty good baseline,” Power said after clocking a lap (in the non-metric USA) of 227.026 miles-per-hour.

Not surprisingly, the former winner's Penske Racing team-mate Josef Newgarden was second at 226.97, with the third Penske car – the iconic 'Yellow Submarine' – of Scott McLaughlin running fifth at 225.005.

For context, Power's lap converts to 365.362km/h.

A total of 34 cars ran laps on the first day, which means that only one will fail to qualify for the historic 33-car field on race day.

While Penske was top of the times, the other strong outfit was Chip Ganassi Racing, which had current IndyCar series leader Alex Palou in third and Kiwi hero Scott Dixon in fifth.