Chip Ganassi’s Scott Dixon finished the third practice session ahead of IndyCar’s season-opener in St. Petersburg at the top of the timesheets.
The New Zealander set the pace in Friday’s second practice and remained the driver to beat in the final session, ahead of qualifying.
Dixon led a Honda 1-6 in practice three, with a 1:01.624 leaving him just 0.042 seconds clear of Schmidt Peterson’s James Hinchcliffe.
The 2013 St. Petersburg winner was the first driver of the weekend to break into the 1:01s but dropped behind Dixon in the final third of the session.
2016 Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi was third, with ex-F1 racer Max Chilton and Sébastien Bourdais – who made an improvement in the closing stages – rounding out the top five.
Practice one pacesetter Marco Andretti ended the session sixth, with Penske’s Josef Newgarden the top Chevrolet driver in seventh.
Ryan Hunter-Reay, Tony Kanaan and Will Power – recovering from his practice one crash on Friday – completed the top 10.
2016 IndyCar champion Simon Pagenaud was 11th, with Hélio Castroneves down in 15th in the final Penske car.
Takuma Sato returned to action after his practice two crash but finished a lowly 17th for Andretti.
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