Hamilton's times dropped off dramatically as he continued - within three laps of his fastest time he was more than four seconds slower.
As an Indy rookie in 2010, Sato finished 30th, two laps off the pace.
And by "held their own" Ganassi means finishing no higher than 12th (Oriol Servia, who was five laps off Dixon's pace).
Audi, in turn, will be buoyed by their running in the latter part of the race but will have expected more from their third entry, which was in Le Mans spec and finished sixth, two laps off the leaders.
Their second 919, driven by Neel Jani, Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb, had to retire after 30 laps due to a hydraulic problem but for Webber's No20 to make it to the finish, and in a podium spot although two laps off the winner, was a more than satisfactory opening for both driver and team.
After only three laps, Brundle spun off with a technical problem, and retired.
Though Philae is expected to die when its electronics overheat from use, the lander may hold fast to the comet and ride it around the sun for three laps before enough material breaks off to dislodge its harpoon.
That was followed immediately by a second bronze for the Welsh thanks to a clever ride by Oliva behind Tomas Babek of the Czech Republic in the keirin, which has been subtly altered for this Olympic cycle: the pacing motorbike now swings off at three laps to go, half a lap earlier than before.
He was in third or fourth for much of the heat before taking the lead with three laps to go and easing off in the final 200m, once he realised his safe passage into Friday's final was secure.
When the safety car pulled off after three laps, Massa consolidated his lead over his teammate.
