Scott Dixon was quickest in the final practice session before IndyCar qualifying at a cold and overcast Infineon Raceway. The Ganassi driver beat Penske's Helio Castroneves by 0.2998 seconds, while 2009 winner and Friday pacesetter Dario Franchitti took third place.
Much of the session had seen a Ganassi/Penske lock-out of the top five places, but a late improvement from Alex Tagliani moved the underdog Fazzt team up to fourth - ahead of Penske's Will Power and Ryan Briscoe.
Ryan Hunter-Reay was notably quicker than the rest of the Andretti Autosport group as he took seventh at the end. Dreyer & Reinbold duo Justin Wilson and JR Hildebrand were eighth and 10th, split by Newman/Haas's Graham Rahal, whose team-mate Hideki Mutoh took 11th.
Although the session ran with no interruptions, there were a few minor incidents, including spins for Hunter-Reay and Foyt driver Vitor Meira.
Danica Patrick (Andretti Autosport) and Takuma Sato (KV) collided at Turn 7, ending Patrick's session as she trundled back to the pits with broken suspension, although Sato was able to rejoin later. Franchitti also had contact with another car, banging wheels with HVM's Simona de Silvestro.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Scott Dixon Ganassi 1m17.4312s
2. Helio Castroneves Penske 1m17.7309s + 0.2998s
3. Dario Franchitti Ganassi 1m17.7705s + 0.3393s
4. Alex Tagliani Fazzt 1m17.7788s + 0.3476s
5. Will Power Penske 1m17.7958s + 0.3646s
6. Ryan Briscoe Penske 1m17.8713s + 0.4401s
7. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti 1m17.9535s + 0.5223s
8. Justin Wilson Dreyer & Reinbold 1m18.0535s + 0.6223s
9. Graham Rahal Newman/Haas 1m18.0652s + 0.6340s
10. JR Hildebrand Dreyer & Reinbold 1m18.0937s + 0.6625s
11. Hideki Mutoh Newman/Haas 1m18.1533s + 0.7221s
12. Dan Wheldon Panther 1m18.3164s + 0.8852s
13. EJ Viso KV 1m18.3254s + 0.8942s
14. Marco Andretti Andretti 1m18.3382s + 0.9070s
15. Raphael Matos De Ferran Dragon 1m18.4089s + 0.9777s
16. Tony Kanaan Andretti 1m18.4201s + 0.9889s
17. Bertrand Baguette Conquest 1m18.5335s + 1.1023s
18. Mario Moraes KV 1m18.6154s + 1.1843s
19. Takuma Sato KV 1m18.6340s + 1.2028s
20. Alex Lloyd Dale Coyne 1m18.7026s + 1.2715s
21. Vitor Meira Foyt 1m18.7557s + 1.3246s
22. Simona de Silvestro HVM 1m18.9265s + 1.4953s
23. Danica Patrick Andretti 1m19.0819s + 1.6508s
24. Francesco Dracone Conquest 1m21.4848s + 4.0537s
25. Milka Duno Dale Coyne 1m21.8460s + 4.4148s