Rahal leads RLL 1-2-3 in second practice for Indy GP

Graham Rahal emerged fastest in second practice for Saturday’s Sonsio Grand Prix, ahead of his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing teammates Louis Foster and Devlin DeFrancesco. Rahal used Firestone’s alternate compound to lap the 14-turn 2.439-mile Indianapolis road course in 1m09.7242s an, average of 125.930mph, to shade his rookie teammate by 0.1384s.

The first clear laps, unencumbered by traffic, saw Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda legend Scott Dixon having a minor off before he set a 1m10.9135s ahead of Arrow McLaren-Chevrolet’s Nolan Siegel, who outqualified both of his teammates at the last round in Barber Motorsports Park. However, Dixon’s benchmark was soon eclipsed by his teammates Kyffin Simpson, who finished first practice in second place, and Alex Palou, this morning’s pacesetter.

With 17 minutes remaining, Sting Ray Robb put his Juncos Hollinger Racing-Chevrolet at the top of the times with a set of alternate Firestone tires, delivering a 1m10.1657s, 0.1288s ahead of Palou. Palou and Simpson would remain the fastest on primaries ahead of the McLarens of Christian Lundgaard and Pato O’Ward, who were split by Team Penske’s six-time Indy GP polesitter Will Power.

Foster then went P1, with the first lap under 70s, and teammate DeFrancesco then also used reds to vault up into second. With just two minutes left, Rahal made it an RLL 1-2-3. Also on alternates to set their best times were JHR’s Conor Daly, who fell a few hundredths short of teammate Robb, and Alexander Rossi of Ed Carpenter Racing.

For the umpteenth time this season, PREMA Racing’s rookie Robert Shwartzman suffered car issues in a practice session and failed to set a lap. Santino Ferrucci’s AJ Foyt Racing-Chevy had clutch issues that meant he didn’t hit the track until there were under a dozen minutes left.

UP NEXT: Qualifying begins at 4.30pm ET.

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