Rossi, Honda Lead Opening Day Practice at Road America
Rossi, Honda Lead Opening Day Practice at Road America
- Alexander Rossi, Honda, top the time sheets in practice
- Ryan Hunter-Reay heads opening practice session, runs sixth overall
- Honda drivers claim eight of top-10 times on Friday
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (June 21, 2019) – Honda drivers led both NTT IndyCar Series practice sessions Friday at Road America, with Alexander Rossi topping the time sheets in the afternoon and for the day in his Andretti Autosport Honda, in preparation for Sunday’s REV Group Grand Prix.
Running on the soft-compound Firestone “Red” tires, Rossi manhandled his car over the challenging four-mile Road America circuit to a time of 1:43.1206 [140.131 mph] to comfortably edge second-fastest Will Power’s best lap of 1:43.4089, also set on the “Red” alternate tires.
Rossi’s teammate, Ryan Hunter-Reay, led the morning session and ended the day sixth overall based on his opening session time. Already a race winner this year, rookie Colton Herta ended the afternoon and the day fourth fastest for the Harding Steinbrenner Racing team, with fellow rookie Felix Rosenqvist fifth in his Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Takuma Sato, second quickest in the morning, used that time to end the day seventh, with teammate Graham Rahal eighth. Defending series champion Scott Dixon ran ninth, while James Hinchcliffe rounded out the top 10 in his Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda. Activities continue Saturday at Road America with final practice and qualifying for Sunday’s 55-lap, 220-mile race. Live network coverage of the 10th round of the season begin at 12 p.m. EDT Sunday on NBC.
Alexander Rossi (Andretti Autosport Honda) fastest in opening-day practice: “It’s always a change from year-to-year, right? So, we roll off [of the trailer] with a car [set up] that was good last year, and work to dial it in to this year’s conditions. Right now, it’s still pretty hairy out there. We’re dealing with both ends of the race car [not working to their best] and trying to find that happy medium.
NTT IndyCar Series REV Group Grand Prix
Circuit: Road America (4.0-mile road course) Elkhart Lake, Wis.
2018 Winner: Josef Newgarden (Team Penske) 132.101 mph average
Weather: Sunny, mild, 72 degrees F
Top-10 Friday Practice Session Results:
| Ps. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Best Time | Notes |
| 1. | Alexander Rossi | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 1:43.1206 | 140.131 mph average |
| 2. | Will Power | Team Penske | Chevrolet | 1:43.4089 | |
| 3. | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | Chevrolet | 1:43.4758 | |
| 4. | Colton Herta-R | Harding Steinbrenner Racing | Honda | 1:43.7415 | |
| 5. | Felix Rosenqvist-R | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 1:43.7464 | |
| 6. | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 1:43.7556 | |
| 7. | Takuma Sato | Rahal Letterman Lanigan | Honda | 1:43.8244 | |
| 8. | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan | Honda | 1:43.9772 | |
| 9. | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 1:43.9842 | |
| 10. | James Hinchcliffe | Arrow Schmidt Peterson | Honda | 1:44.0423 |
Other Honda Results
| 12. | Marco Andretti | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 1:44.0731 | |
| 13. | Zach Veach | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 1:44.2018 | |
| 15. | Sebastien Bourdais | DCR with Vasser-Sullivan | Honda | 1:44.2436 | |
| 20. | Santino Ferrucci-R | Dale Coyne Racing | Honda | 1:44.6992 | |
| 22. | Marcus Ericsson-R | Arrow Schmidt Peterson | Honda | 1:45.0633 | |
| 23. | Jack Harvey | Meyer Shank Racing | Honda | 1:45.2417 |