Nazareth, Pa. ? Although he was the fastest driver in practice Friday at Nazareth Speedway, Gil de Ferran didn’t figure that meant much.

Neither did Jaques Lazier, whose speed was nearly as good when the IRL competitors navigated the tight, mile oval for the first time in preparation for Sunday’s Firestone Indy 225.

“We weren’t trying to go fast,” said de Ferran, a winner in Nazareth two years ago in a CART race. “We were just working on the general balance of the car.”

De Ferran knows that’s the way to go, particularly with the changes in the weather forecast this weekend. It was close to 90 degrees Friday, but the temperature is expected to fall to about 60 by Sunday.

“A car that runs well in the heat usually will run well in the cold,” he explained. “We were able to confirm a lot of the things we learned when we tested here.”

His fast lap in the morning session was run at 169.512 mph, but he fell off to 165.068 after lunch. De Ferran, who gave car owner Roger Penske his 100th career victory by winning here in 2000, was not concerned about slowing down.

Like Lazier, he practiced with more fuel on board in the afternoon, making his Dallara Chevrolet heavier and slower.

“It’s important to get the car mechanically consistent during a fuel run,” Lazier said. “That’s why we were working on a setup to get the car as well-balanced as possible.”

Lazier, in the same package as de Ferran, tuned the fastest afternoon lap at 168.747. He also was not fooled by the numbers.

“We lost 1 mile per hour because we went more for a race setup,” he said.