Dixon lapped the course in 1min22.6441sec, an average of 146.798mph on his final lap, a time that Andretti Autosport-Honda’s Alexander Rossi missed beating by just 0.0220sec.

The 2016 Indy 500 champion beat his fellow Indy-winning teammate into third by an impressive 0.4sec, with Helio Castroneves fastest of the Chevrolet runners in fourth for Team Penske.

Sebastien Bourdais ended his session with a spin in the Dale Coyne Racing-Honda, but as he prepared for his first roadcourse race since the GP of Indy in mid-May, the Frenchman was fifth, a commendable bounce-back from yesterday when he described himself as “lost”.

Sixth was a third Andretti car, that of Takuma Sato, ahead of the man near-certain to be his teammate next season, Graham Rahal.

Penske’s championship leader Josef Newgarden was eighth, with one of his principal rivals, teammate Simon Pagenaud in ninth.

James Hinchcliffe was seen gesticulating to several driver over the course of the 45-minute session as he struggled to find a clear lap, and he finished the session just 17^th, two places and 0.2sec ahead of Schmidt Peterson Motorsports-Honda teammate Jack Harvey, who is preparing for his first roadcourse IndyCar race.

Watkins Glen, IndyCar FP3

Cla	#	Driver	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	9	Scott Dixon	13	1'22.6441			146.798
2	98	Alexander Rossi	18	1'22.6661	0.0220	0.0220	146.759
3	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	13	1'23.0597	0.4156	0.3936	146.064
4	3	Helio Castroneves	16	1'23.2320	0.5879	0.1723	145.761
5	18	Sébastien Bourdais	14	1'23.2406	0.5965	0.0086	145.746
6	26	Takuma Sato	15	1'23.3391	0.6950	0.0985	145.574
7	15	Graham Rahal	18	1'23.3599	0.7158	0.0208	145.538
8	2	Josef Newgarden	19	1'23.3926	0.7485	0.0327	145.481
9	1	Simon Pagenaud	16	1'23.4506	0.8065	0.0580	145.379
10	83	Charlie Kimball	18	1'23.4600	0.8159	0.0094	145.363
11	4	Conor Daly	19	1'23.6885	1.0444	0.2285	144.966
12	10	Tony Kanaan	16	1'23.7711	1.1270	0.0826	144.823
13	27	Marco Andretti	18	1'23.7857	1.1416	0.0146	144.798
14	20	Spencer Pigot	14	1'23.8645	1.2204	0.0788	144.662
15	14	Carlos Munoz	15	1'23.9718	1.3277	0.1073	144.477
16	12	Will Power	15	1'24.0187	1.3746	0.0469	144.396
17	5	James Hinchcliffe	16	1'24.1540	1.5099	0.1353	144.164
18	19	Ed Jones	19	1'24.3312	1.6871	0.1772	143.861
19	7	Jack Harvey	18	1'24.3518	1.7077	0.0206	143.826
20	8	Max Chilton	17	1'24.7749	2.1308	0.4231	143.108
21	21	J.R. Hildebrand	18	1'24.8130	2.1689	0.0381	143.044