Ryan Hunter-Reay saved his best lap for his last lap at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.

The defending IZOD IndyCar Series champion showed no ill effects for a two-week layoff turning a lap of 1 minute 5.6358 seconds Wednesday on the 13-turn, 2.258-mile road course to lead the one-day  open test in advance of Sunday's Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio.

"It was a good day," Hunter-Reay, driver of the No. 1 DHL Chevrolet, said. "Made some major gains and we're pretty happy with the car. This track is similar to Barber and we've been quick on the big natural terrain road courses. I'm happy with the work that the Andretti Autosport boys have done over the last two weeks and I'm sure we'll find even more speed for Friday."

Simon Pagenaud turned the second-quickest lap of 1:05.7965 in the No. 77 Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports Honda followed by Will Power (1:05.8206) of Team Penske, Sebastien Bourdais (1:05.9654) of Dragon Racing and series points leader Helio Castroneves (1:05.9710).

Scott Dixon, who has won the last three IndyCar Series races and is aiming for his third straight win at Mid-Ohio, was sixth at 1:06.1025. A little more than a second separated the top 16 drivers on the timesheet.