Rahal Leads Honda Effort in Toronto Practice

Honda Racing Report
Friday, June 12, 2015
Honda Indy Toronto
Circuit: Exhibition Place (1.755-mile temporary street circuit), Toronto, Ont., Canada
2014 Winners: Race 1 Sebastien Bourdais (KVSH Racing) 90.370 mph average
Race 2 Mike Conway [Ed Carpenter Racing] 73.168 mph average [rain]
Weather: Morning, afternoon showers, mild, 72 degrees F

Top 10 Practice Session Results:
Ps.
Driver
Team
Manufacturer
Best Time
Notes
1.
Juan Pablo Montoya
Team Penske
Chevrolet
1:00.6343
104.198 mph average
2.
Simon Pagenaud
Team Penske
Chevrolet
1:00.7922

3.
Josef Newgarden
Carpenter Fisher Hartman
Chevrolet
1:00.8363

4.
Luca Filippi
Carpenter Fisher Hartman
Chevrolet
1:00.8500

5.
Sebastien Bourdais
KV Racing Technology
Chevrolet
1:00.8620

6.
Will Power
Team Penske
Chevrolet
1:00.8656

7.
Helio Castroneves
Team Penske
Chevrolet
1:00.8788

8.
Graham Rahal
Rahal Letterman Lanigan
Honda
1:00.9330

9.
Charlie Kimball
Chip Ganassi Racing
Chevrolet
1:01.0852

10.
Tony Kanaan
Chip Ganassi Racing
Chevrolet
1:01.1977

Other Honda-powered Results:
12.
Jack Hawksworth
A.J. Foyt Racing
Honda
1:01.2562

13.
Takuma Sato
A.J. Foyt Racing
Honda
1:01.2640

14.
James Jakes
Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
Honda
1:01.3277

15.
Ryan Hunter-Reay
Andretti Autosport
Honda
1:01.4586

16.
Carlos Munoz
Andretti Autosport
Honda
1:01.4588

18.
Marco Andretti
Andretti Autosport
Honda
1:01.5950

19.
Gabby Chaves-R
Bryan Herta Autosport
Honda
1:02.2061

21.
Conor Daly-R
Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
Honda
1:02.6453

22.
Tristan Vautier
Dale Coyne Racing
Honda
1:02.8632

23.
Rodolfo Gonzalez-R
Dale Coyne Racing
Honda
1:03.4852
Rahal Leads Honda Effort in Toronto Practice
Graham Rahal continues run of strong road-course, street-circuit performances
Rain dampens afternoon activities

Graham Rahal led the way for Honda in practice action Friday on Toronto’s Exhibition Place street circuit, in preparation for Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto. The Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver, coming off a run of three podium finishes in the last four Verizon IndyCar Series road- and street-course races, was eighth fastest in today’s opening practice session.

Afternoon rain showers kept the field parked in pit lane throughout the scheduled 45-minute second practice, though weather forecasts call for sunny skies and mild temperatures throughout the rest of the race weekend. The morning session was notable for the number of teammates posting similar times throughout the field, including the A.J. Foyt Racing Hondas of Jack Hawksworth and Takuma Sato running 12th and 13th, respectively; with Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay 15th, followed by teammates Carlos Munoz, 16th and Marco Andretti, 18th.

Activities continue in Toronto with final practice and “knockout” elimination qualifying on Saturday. The 85-lap 10th round of the Verizon IndyCar Series season start at 3 p.m. EDT Sunday, with live television coverage on the NBC Sports Network.

Graham Rahal (#15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda):  “We had a really good start. I don’t think we got the ultimate out of the car, but we were still right up there in the mix, so I’m pretty pleased. I obviously wish we would have gotten the second session in, but the weather didn’t cooperate. We have seen a lot of rain this year, unfortunately. but the weather looks good for the next couple of days so I’m excited to get back out there.  The track was rough, but really similar to previous years. Hopefully we can get back out there and continue to improve, have a good qualifying session and good race.”