SPM drivers say their cars are fast in race trim

Hinchcliffe took a now-famous pole, Aleshin qualified seventh and Servia will roll off 10^th for the 100^th Running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday. But all three Schmidt Peterson Motorsports-Honda drivers have suggested they also have a handle on strong race setups following yesterday’s three-and-a-half-hour practice.

“This session is very important and I'm really glad we get it,” said Hinchcliffe. “During the last week, you try and do race running but guys are on different programs. [Each day] is a six-hour session, some guys are on track, others are in the garage, so it's a bit tough to get a really good read on what the race will be like.

“Today, everybody's on track doing race runs all day. It gives you an opportunity to gather some really valuable data and I think we made some positive changes to the car. Some negative changes too, so at least we learned a direction and at least we can tune it a little bit for [the final one-hour practice session] Carb Day and hopefully be in a good position come Sunday."

Servia, who is making his eighth Indy 500 start and is one of 11 part-timers on the grid, said: "We did lots of miles and tried lots of things and the best-case scenario happened, which was that I was the happiest with the #77 car on my last run.

“I'm looking forward to May 29th. I think we have good cars and I couldn't be happier with the whole team, and what we have in store for the race."

Hinchcliffe’s full-time teammate Aleshin has won new fans this past week with his blatant bravery when taking his car to the limit, and then downplaying his antics when outside the car. Following practice, he said: “  think we're going to be pretty fast in the race. All three cars showed some good pace. It's not going to be easy for anyone; it looked like many people struggled in traffic.

“But it's all about having good sets of tires and good luck."