Rahal, Rossi Head Honda Field Friday in Detroit

• Graham Rahal ends the day second fastest, Alexander Rossi in third
• Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato runs seventh fastest
• Honda drivers claim six of the top 10 positions

DETROIT, Mich. (June 2, 2017) – Graham Rahal led the way for Honda in opening Verizon IndyCar Series practice Friday on the Belle Isle temporary street circuit, in preparations for Saturday’s opening race of a doubleheader Detroit Grand Prix weekend.

Alexander Rossi wrapped up the second of two practice sessions in third, followed by Mikhail Aleshin in fifth. Fresh off his Indianapolis 500 “Victory Tour”, Takuma Sato posted the seventh-fastest time of the day, with Marco Andretti and Scott Dixon rounding out the top 10 for Honda.

Activities continue Saturday in Detroit with the first of this weekend’s two 70-lap Verizon IndyCar Series races. The seventh and eighth rounds of the 17-race 2017 season begin at 3:30 p.m. EDT Saturday and Sunday, respectively, with live television coverage of both races on ABC.

Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda): “First of all, it’s great to be back here [in Detroit]. We appreciate everything Roger [Penske] has done here in the city to put this on. It’s been a track that’s been good to me in the past. I had a couple podiums here and finished fourth last year in the Saturday race. Obviously today started off on the right foot and the United Rentals Honda seemed to be very strong, very competitive, right off the trailer this morning. In the first session, we didn’t change anything. As the track heated up in the afternoon, it got slippery for me. I’m sure everybody will say the same. I know we had a couple more tenths [of a second] in it. It’s going to be tricky out there in qualifying. It’s bumpy. It’s going to beat us up pretty good. We’ll just have to go out there tomorrow and test it. Hopefully the car will be nice and reliable, we’ll get to the end and have a good day.”