Detroit IndyCar: Graham Rahal fastest in first practice

Graham Rahal was fastest in the first practice for IndyCar's double-header weekend in Detroit

The Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara-Honda driver was 0.1562 seconds faster than last weekend's Indianapolis 500 runner-up Helio Castroneves in second.

Castroneves' Penske Dallara-Chevrolet team-mate Josef Newgarden was third, less than half a tenth behind.

The session's only interruption was due to a late spin from Scott Dixon, in his first time in the car after his horrifying shunt at Indy just five days ago.

That caused the only red flag of the 45 minutes, though Dixon avoided damage to his car, and a few drivers down the order still managed to improve when the session was resumed for a final minute.

Alexander Rossi was fourth fastest, and was the top Andretti Autosport driver.

Will Power was fifth, almost half a second behind Rahal.

Dixon ended up seventh fastest ahead of his Chip Ganassi Racing team-mate Tony Kanaan.

Ryan Hunter-Reay and James Hinchcliffe rounded out the top 10.

Ex-Formula 1 driver Esteban Gutierrez, in his first laps in an IndyCar, ended up 21st fastest for Dale Coyne Racing in place of the injured Sebastien Bourdais.

Only team-mate Ed Jones, who is also unfamiliar with this circuit, was slower.

Simon Pagenaud was 11th fastest, ahead of Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato.

Those in the top 10 in the points standings tended to avoid the track in the early part of the session, as they only had one set of the harder tyre to use in this practice, as opposed to two sets for those outside of the top 10.

PRACTICE TIMES:

Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap Laps
1 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 1m15.3328s - 15
2 Helio Castroneves Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 1m15.4890s 0.1562s 12
3 Josef Newgarden Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 1m15.5384s 0.2056s 13
4 Alexander Rossi Andretti Herta Dallara/Honda 1m15.7216s 0.3888s 13
5 Will Power Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 1m15.8159s 0.4831s 15
6 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 1m15.9159s 0.5831s 17
7 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 1m15.9540s 0.6212s 11
8 Tony Kanaan Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 1m15.9900s 0.6572s 13
9 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 1m16.0130s 0.6802s 15
10 James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 1m16.0354s 0.7026s 14
11 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 1m16.1781s 0.8453s 13
12 Takuma Sato Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 1m16.2165s 0.8837s 11
13 Mikhail Aleshin Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 1m16.3861s 1.0533s 16
14 J.R. Hildebrand Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 1m16.4302s 1.0974s 18
15 Charlie Kimball Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 1m16.4507s 1.1179s 15
16 Carlos Munoz AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Chevrolet 1m16.6096s 1.2768s 17
17 Max Chilton Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 1m16.7793s 1.4465s 19
18 Conor Daly AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Chevrolet 1m16.9432s 1.6104s 18
19 Spencer Pigot Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 1m17.0866s 1.7538s 17
20 Oriol Servia Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 1m17.9734s 2.6406s 15
21 Esteban Gutierrez Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 1m18.2289s 2.8961s 20
22 Ed Jones Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 1m18.9603s 3.6275s 18


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