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Hunter-Reay, Honda Head Indy Car Field at Mid-Ohio

  • Ryan Hunter-Reay tops the time charts in opening day of practice for Honda Indy 200
  • Sebastien Bourdais leads morning practice sessions for Honda, sixth overall
  • Local favorite Graham Rahal runs third

Ryan Hunter-Reay headed the time sheets in the second – and generally quicker – of two Verizon IndyCar Series practice sessions today at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in preparation for Sunday's Honda Indy 200.

Hunter-Reay posted a fast lap of 1:05.195 (124.684 mph) around the hilly Mid-Ohio road course during a simulated qualifying run in the second practice session to secure the top spot on the day.  In the morning session, Sebastien Bourdais led the 24-car field for Honda, with a time that left him sixth fastest overall. 

Other Honda drivers to feature today included Ohio native Graham Rahal in third; Long Beach winner Alexander Rossi, fifth; and Marco Andretti in seventh.  Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Scott Dixon and Ed Jones rounded out the top nine for Honda.

Activities continue Saturday at Mid-Ohio with final practice and qualifying for Sunday's 90-lap race. The 13th round of the 2018 season begin at 3 p.m. EDT Sunday, with live television coverage on the CNBC Network and tape-delayed broadcast on the NBC Sports Network starting at 6:30 p.m. EDT.

Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport Honda) Fastest in Friday practice: "It was a productive day. We kept getting the car balance closer and closer to what I wanted. We didn't test here [prior to the race weekend], so I think being on top of the time sheets after the first day is a testament to the team. They did their homework on this, and we just have to continue to work together as a team to move forward tomorrow."

Sebastien Bourdais (DCR Racing with Vasser-Sullivan Honda) Fastest in morning practice, fifth fastest for the day: "It was a mixed bag day for the SealMaster Honda. Under cooler conditions this morning, the car was really quick and the balance was pretty good. As the day went on and temperatures went up, we struggled with the balance. It got even worse on the red [softer, alternate compound] tires, although I didn't get a representative [qualifying simulation] run because we got a lot of traffic. We just have to sit down and try and understand exactly why things are happening, and try to find a solution."

Verizon IndyCar Series Honda Indy 200 Circuit: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (2.258-mile road course) Lexington, Ohio 2017 Winner: Josef Newgarden (Team Penske) 114.677 mph average Weather: Mostly sunny, mild, 74 degrees F

Top-10 Friday Practice Session Results:

Ps.

Driver      

Team

Manufacturer

Best Time

Notes

  1.

Ryan Hunter-Reay

Andretti Autosport

Honda

1:05.1950

 124.684 mph average

  2.

Will Power

Team Penske

Chevrolet

1:05.3371

+0.1421 seconds

  3.

Graham Rahal

Rahal Letterman Lanigan

Honda

1:05.4141

 

  4.

Spencer Pigot

Ed Carpenter

Chevrolet

1:05.4312

 

  5.

Alexander Rossi

Andretti Autosport

Honda

1:05.4526

 

  6.

Sebastien Bourdais

DCR with Vasser-Sullivan      

Honda

1:05.5784

 

  7.

Marco Andretti

Andretti Autosport

Honda

1:05.5836

 

  8.

Scott Dixon

Chip Ganassi Racing

Honda

1:05.6063

 

  9.

Ed Jones

Chip Ganassi Racing             

Honda

1:05.6223

 

10.

Josef Newgarden

Team Penske

Chevrolet

1:05.6585

 

Other Honda Results

11.

Jack Havey-R

Meyer Schmidt Racing          

Honda

1:05.7293

 

12.

Zach Veach-R

Andretti Autosport

Honda

1:05.8061

 

13.

Robert Wickens-R

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports

Honda

1:05.8191

 

15.

James Hinchcliffe

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports

Honda

1:06.1044

 

16.

Takuma Sato

Rahal Letterman Lanigan

Honda

1:06.1101

 

18.

Pietro Fittipaldi-R

Dale Coyne Racing                

Honda

1:06.3349

 

 

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