Rahal Qualifies Eighth for Honda at Barber Motorsports Park

* Hinchcliffe also posts top-10 qualifying effort
* Field set for Sunday’s Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

Graham Rahal led the Honda field in Verizon IndyCar Series qualifying Saturday for Sunday’s Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, posting the eighth-quickest time in his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda in the second of the three-round “knockout” qualifying sessions.

The performance matched Rahal’s best previous qualifying effort at Barber Motorsports Park, eighth in 2012, and was his second consecutive top-eight qualifying run of 2015. James Hinchcliffe completed the top 10 qualifiers in his Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda.

Video recaps from this weekend’s Honda racing activities in Alabama, including Verizon IndyCar and Acura Pirelli World Challenge efforts, are being posted on the “Honda Racing/HPD” YouTube channel. Produced by the Carolinas Production Group, the video packages can be found in the 2015 HPD Trackside Video Playlist at: https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV. The Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama starts at 3 p.m. Sunday, with live television coverage on the NBC Sports Network.

Graham Rahal (#15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda) qualified eighth today: “It was a really good lap. I don’t know if there was much left in the Steak ‘n Shake car. These guys worked very hard and we fought back here in qualifying. It’s good to be the fastest Honda. We have to close the gap and get up there, get more competitive. I think we have a good chance in the race starting eighth. Anything can happen here. We’ve got to be smart and we’ve got to take care of the rear tires. I think we can get a good result, I feel good about it.”