LEXINGTON, Ohio – Early in the July 26 test session at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Justin Wilson left pit lane in the No. 18 Sonny’s BBQ car for Dale Coyne Racing for an installation lap on the 2.258-mile, 13-turn road course.

Just over a minute later, the veteran IZOD IndyCar Series driver roared through Turn 1 on a flying lap. Mission complete – or at least the first of many on the day in preparation for this weekend’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio.

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.

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

“I wasn’t anxious or nervous; I was looking forward to it,” said Wilson, who was 18th quick in the initial practice Aug. 3 – less than a second off the pace set by Will Power in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car. “I wanted to get back out there. It’s a track I love driving. I really have a lot of fun going around here. It was such a freak accident. It’s not like I buried it in the wall somewhere and last vision I had was seeing the wall. It was just one of those things.

“I wanted to make sure I wasn’t intimidated by Turn 1 as sometimes that can happen. You lose a little bit of speed there. I think I was pretty quick through there; I gave it maximum attack. I was happy with it.”

So maybe he wasn’t as enamored with his showing in the 45-minute session under a broiling afternoon sun. But there’s a 60-minute practice Aug. 4 preceding the three rounds of qualifications (11 a.m. ET) to make up time.

“After last year, I want to come back strong and have a successful weekend,” he added.

Power, who’s third in the championship standings entering Round 12, had a quick lap of 1 minute, 6.8632 seconds – which was just off the IZOD IndyCar Series lap time record.

"This new IndyCar feels great here. Lot’s more power and more downforce," said Power, who is 26 points behind the front-running Ryan Hunter-Reay of Andretti Autosport. "You can really get after a lap.  We’re bloody determined to get the pole here tomorrow. I think the entire team is very happy with today and the results. It was good to get a fast clean lap and get confidence going into tomorrow. 

"For the rest of the year we need to win poles and win races if we are going to win the championship. It’s pretty simple. We need to run well and fast to make up ground in the points race."

Scott Dixon, who has won three of the past five races at Mid-Ohio in the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car, was second quick (1:07.0213) and Marco Andretti was third (1:07.0644) in the No. 26 Team RC Cola car. Simon Pagenaud was fourth (1:07.1063) in the No. 77 Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports car, and Graham Rahal finished fifth (1:07.1088) in the No. 38 Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing car.

Wilson's teammate, James Jakes, was sixth quick in the No. 19 Boy Scouts of America entry and rookie Josef Newgarden was seventh in the No. 67 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing car. The top 20 cars were separated by less than a second.

Giorgio Pantano, filling in for the injured Charlie Kimball (fractured right pinky) in the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen car for Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing, was 23rd on the time sheet (1:08.0753) in his first session with the new car-engine package and on this circuit.

“I have a good feeling about today," said Pantano, who filled in for Wilson in three late-season races in 2011. "The NovoLog FlexPen car is definitely good and it was great to be out there.  I think in tomorrow’s practice session I’ll be able to put myself more in the front of the field than today.”