Starting on the front row alongside teammate Takuma Sato for today’s NTT IndyCar Series race at Barber Motorsports Park, Graham Rahal was quickest in the warmup session with a lap of 1 minute, 10.1751 seconds.
Rahal is seeking his first win since a doubleheader sweep at Detroit in 2017, and he sounded confident that he can carry over his pace from qualifying into the race.
”... I think our consistency is pretty strong, so if we can find a way to get out front, we should be able to run pretty good,” Rahal told NBCSN.
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Second-fastest in the session was Alexander Rossi (1 minute, 10.2853 seconds), who focused on running with the red ‘alternate’ tires.
“We were trying to figure them out and get more of an understanding on what they’re gonna do,” said Rossi, who starts today’s race in 8th. “It’s gonna be an interesting race. There are two very definitive ways you can go about it, and it’s gonna be a hell of a show.”
Championship leader Josef Newgarden (along with Team Penske as a whole) struggled mightily in qualifying yesterday and starts today’s race in 16th. But there may be some hope for a salvageable outcome after he posted the third-fastest time in the session (1 minute, 10.5107 seconds).
Ryan Hunter-Reay (1 minute, 10.5596 seconds) was fourth-fastest, followed by Zach Veach (1 minute, 10.7195 seconds), who had yet another off-course excursion this weekend. This time, he lost control and slid to a stop in the grass near pit entrance.
Andretti Autosport teammates Hunter-Reay and Veach start today’s race in 11th and 23rd, respectively.