Simon Pagenaud was fastest in third practice for the 2017 IndyCar season at Sonoma as he looks to become the first driver to successfully defend a series title since ’11.
Pagenaud set a record lap time of 1m16.0329s to finish ahead of Ganassi’s Scott Dixon by 0.1125 seconds.
The top five positions were filled by drivers in the fight for the championship as Will Power, points leader Josef Newgarden and Helio Castroneves completed a Penske 3-4-5.
Each waited until the final 20 minutes to compete for the top spots on the timesheets.
Takuma Sato propelled himself to sixth late on after spending almost two-thirds of the 45-minute session in the pitlane to work on his set-up.
Graham Rahal finished seventh, the position he begins the weekend in in the standings as the outsider in the title hunt.
Ryan Hunter-Reay, Marco Andretti and Tony Kanaan rounded out the top 10.
The other championship contender Alexander Rossi ended the session in 12th.
Ed Jones and James Hinchcliffe provided some drama by having separate spins before finishing 15th and 17th.
Jones lost control of his car in a half-spin between Turns 9 and 10, while Hinchcliffe faced the wrong way momentarily at Turn 2.
Debutant Zachary Claman DeMelo was 22nd as he continues to gain experience.
FP3 times
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Simon Pagenaud | Team Penske | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m16.0329s | – | 8 |
| 2 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dallara/Honda | 1m16.1454s | 0.1125s | 9 |
| 3 | Will Power | Team Penske | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m16.1609s | 0.1280s | 9 |
| 4 | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m16.2973s | 0.2644s | 10 |
| 5 | Helio Castroneves | Team Penske | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m16.4782s | 0.4453s | 9 |
| 6 | Takuma Sato | Andretti Autosport | Dallara/Honda | 1m16.5597s | 0.5268s | 7 |
| 7 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan | Dallara/Honda | 1m16.6372s | 0.6043s | 14 |
| 8 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Andretti Autosport | Dallara/Honda | 1m16.6474s | 0.6145s | 7 |
| 9 | Marco Andretti | Andretti Autosport | Dallara/Honda | 1m16.6991s | 0.6662s | 8 |
| 10 | Tony Kanaan | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dallara/Honda | 1m16.7095s | 0.6766s | 8 |
| 11 | Sebastien Bourdais | Dale Coyne Racing | Dallara/Honda | 1m16.7675s | 0.7346s | 7 |
| 12 | Alexander Rossi | Andretti Herta | Dallara/Honda | 1m16.7678s | 0.7349s | 10 |
| 13 | Max Chilton | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dallara/Honda | 1m17.0175s | 0.9846s | 13 |
| 14 | Charlie Kimball | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dallara/Honda | 1m17.1271s | 1.0942s | 15 |
| 15 | Ed Jones | Dale Coyne Racing | Dallara/Honda | 1m17.1479s | 1.1150s | 12 |
| 16 | Spencer Pigot | Ed Carpenter Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m17.2089s | 1.1760s | 13 |
| 17 | James Hinchcliffe | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | Dallara/Honda | 1m17.2175s | 1.1846s | 11 |
| 18 | Jack Harvey | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | Dallara/Honda | 1m17.2646s | 1.2317s | 12 |
| 19 | Carlos Munoz | AJ Foyt Enterprises | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m17.2836s | 1.2507s | 16 |
| 20 | Conor Daly | AJ Foyt Enterprises | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m17.3633s | 1.3304s | 13 |
| 21 | J.R. Hildebrand | Ed Carpenter Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m17.3684s | 1.3355s | 20 |
| 22 | Zachary Claman | Rahal Letterman Lanigan | Dallara/Honda | 1m17.8448s | 1.8119s | 16 |