LEXINGTON, Ohio -- Forget the incident last August, Justin Wilson says. Things are looking up at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Wilson, driving the No. 18 Sonny's BBQ car for Dale Coyne Racing, topped the morning practice session preceding qualifications for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio with a lap of 1 minute, 06.3018 seconds -- lower than the IZOD IndyCar Series track record -- on the 2.258-mile, 13-turn road course.

Click it: Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Practice 2 results | Round 1 qualifying groups

In practice last August, Wilson suffered an anterior compression fracture of his T-5 vertebra when his car ran wide on the Turn 1 exit, became briefly airborne when hitting an access road and slammed to the grass. He wound up missing that race and the remainder of the season. Mid-Ohio personnel have rectified the issues in the runoff area.

“After last year, I want to come back strong and have a successful weekend,” said Wilson, who voided any qualms about Turn 1 during a July 26 test at the venue.

Simon Pagenaud, driving the No. 77 Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports car, was second quick (1:06.4124) and Will Power was third (1:06.4671) in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car.

Teammate Helio Castroneves suffered a bruised hand in the session.

"We were having a good session. I was really starting to understand what the car needs," said Castroneves, who wound up 15th on the time chart. "Unfortunately when (Mike) Conway was coming out of the pits, he didn’t know where to go.  He was trying to help me but it ended up hurting me because he was chasing one line to give me room.  Everywhere I would pull, it ended up being the line he would take to help. 

"It’s one of those instances where it’s better to keep your line and not try to help each other.  I didn’t have enough time to brake and I hit him on the back and the steering knob was kind of like whiplash and I hit my hand.  Thank god it’s not broken.  It’s just a bruise and now we’ll go out for qualifying."

Qualifications start at 11 a.m. (ET). Follow on www.indycar.com.