Ohio native and 2015 Mid-Ohio winner Graham Rahal posted the fastest time in the final practice for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Saturday. The popular hometown driver will be looking to carry this pace into the afternoon’s qualifying.
Rahal posted a time of 1:05.2067, ahead of defending race winner and series champion Josef Newgarden by only 0.0403. Rahal’s pace is promising, and just at the right time and location, having struggled throughout much of the season since a P2 finish in the season opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
Will Power recovered from losing control in the second Friday session as he sat third fastest ahead of Alexander Rossi and points leader Scott Dixon. Sebastien Bourdais has picked up the pace in P7, after falling significantly down the timesheet despite topping the weekend’s first session.
Conor Daly continued to improve in his sudden return to the Verizon IndyCar Series, as he steadily pushed his way to 15th fastest Saturday morning. The Harding Racing stand-in will hope to repeat the strong qualifying pace shown on the streets of Toronto.
The weekend’s sessions have seen many drivers fall victim to the many elevation changes around the tricky Mid-Ohio road course. Simon Pagenaud, who posted the sixth fastest time, lost control and ran into a tire wall sustaining damage to the front wing of his Penske Chevrolet. Simultaneously to Pagenaud’s spin, Spener Pigot also lost control without sustaining damage. He would finish 17th fastest.
Robert Wickens and Takuma Sato ran eighth and ninth fastest, respectively, despite brief run offs.
Both A.J. Foyt Enterprises drivers lost control and spun in separate instances. Pietro Fittipaldi, in his return to IndyCar, also spun into the dirt and trapped his Dale Coyne Racing Honda to bring out the red flag.
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