Barber IndyCar: Rahal leads Grosjean in warm-up

Rahal and Rahal Letterman Lanigan-Honda teammate Takuma Sato will line up a disastrous 18^th and 19^th on the grid for this afternoon’s Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, but Rahal’s best time of 66.7319sec – set on the Firestone primaries – suggests he will have the necessary pace if caution flags and canny strategy can vault him to the front of the field.

Grosjean of Dale Coyne Racing with RWR-Honda was second fastest but set his time on Firestone’s alternate compound, as he was among the many drivers to check out tire degradation on the softer rubber. The rookie will roll off from seventh this afternoon.

His compatriot Sebastien Bourdais of AJ Foyt Racing-Chevrolet was underwhelming in qualifying given the team’s speed in testing, and he starts from 16^th but he was third fastest this morning, ahead of Alex Palou who was again fastest Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda driver.

Conor Daly’s fine weekend continued with fifth place, but in this session Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevy teammate Rinus VeeKay was able to join him in the Top 10.

Ryan Hunter-Reay was another driver who struggled in qualifying, and will start down in 17^th, but he set a strong lap on alternate compound tires, although the dropoff in pace afterward looked high.

Grid line-up and drivers’ chosen tire compound for the start of the race are in the second table below.

The field will take the green flag at 2.40pm local (Central) time.

P	No	Name	FTime	Diff	FL	Laps	FSpeed	Engine	Tire	Team
1	15	Graham Rahal	1:06.7319		19	23	124.079	Honda	P	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
2	51	Romain Grosjean	1:06.8616	0.1297	20	24	123.838	Honda	A	Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing
3	14	Sebastien Bourdais	1:06.8642	0.1323	18	21	123.833	Chevy	A	AJ Foyt Enterprises
4	10	Alex Palou	1:06.8654	0.1335	9	22	123.831	Honda	P	Chip Ganassi Racing
5	20	Conor Daly	1:06.9186	0.1867	9	24	123.732	Chevy	A	Ed Carpenter Racing
6	9	Scott Dixon	1:06.9209	0.1890	9	20	123.728	Honda	P	Chip Ganassi Racing
7	26	Colton Herta	1:06.9371	0.2052	17	20	123.698	Honda	A	Andretti Autosport
8	21	Rinus VeeKay	1:06.9632	0.2313	21	25	123.650	Chevy	A	Ed Carpenter Racing
9	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	1:06.9635	0.2316	15	21	123.649	Honda	A	Andretti Autosport
10	5	Pato O'Ward	1:06.9904	0.2585	19	24	123.600	Chevy	P	Arrow McLaren SP
11	2	Josef Newgarden	1:07.0166	0.2847	10	24	123.551	Chevy	P	Team Penske
12	27	Alexander Rossi	1:07.0883	0.3564	12	18	123.419	Honda	A	Andretti Autosport
13	3	Scott McLaughlin	1:07.2831	0.5512	20	24	123.062	Chevy	P	Team Penske
14	7	Felix Rosenqvist	1:07.3407	0.6088	11	24	122.957	Chevy	P	Arrow McLaren SP
15	4	Dalton Kellett	1:07.3720	0.6401	14	21	122.900	Chevy	A	AJ Foyt Enterprises
16	12	Will Power	1:07.3940	0.6621	21	24	122.860	Chevy	P	Team Penske
17	22	Simon Pagenaud	1:07.4503	0.7184	19	22	122.757	Chevy	P	Team Penske
18	60	Jack Harvey	1:07.5262	0.7943	16	20	122.619	Honda	P	Meyer Shank Racing
19	30	Takuma Sato	1:07.5286	0.7967	18	21	122.615	Honda	P	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
20	8	Marcus Ericsson	1:07.6734	0.9415	15	22	122.352	Honda	P	Chip Ganassi Racing
21	29	James Hinchcliffe	1:07.7042	0.9723	12	20	122.297	Honda	P	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport
22	59	Max Chilton	1:07.9217	1.1898	10	23	121.905	Chevy	P	Carlin
23	18	Ed Jones	1:07.9406	1.2087	12	23	121.871	Honda	P	Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan
24	48	Jimmie Johnson	1:08.1597	1.4278	14	24	121.479	Honda	P	Chip Ganassi Racing

P	No.	Driver	Team-Engine	Starting tire
1	5	Pato O'Ward	Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet	Alternate
2	27	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Autosport-Honda	Alternate
3	10	Alex Palou	Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda	Alternate
4	12	Will Power	Team Penske-Chevrolet	Alternate
5	9	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda	Alternate
6	8	Marcus Ericsson	Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda	Alternate
7	51	Romain Grosjean (R)	Dale Coyne Racing with RWR-Honda	Alternate
8	2	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske-Chevrolet	Primary
9	26	Colton Herta	Andretti Autosport-Honda	Primary
10	20	Conor Daly	Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet	Alternate
11	60	Jack Harvey	Meyer Shank Racing-Honda	Alternate
12	3	Scott McLaughlin (R)	Team Penske-Chevrolet	Alternate
13	18	Ed Jones	Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan-Honda	Alternate
14	21	Rinus VeeKay	Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet	Alternate
15	22	Simon Pagenaud	Team Penske-Chevrolet	Alternate
16	14	Sebastien Bourdais	A.J. Foyt Enterprises-Chevrolet	Alternate
17	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport-Honda	Alternate
18	15	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda	Alternate
19	30	Takuma Sato	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda	Alternate
20	59	Max Chilton	Carlin-Chevrolet	Primary
21	48	Jimmie Johnson (R)	Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda	Primary
22	7	Felix Rosenqvist	Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet	Alternate
23	4	Dalton Kellett	A.J. Foyt Enterprises-Chevrolet	Alternate
24	29	James Hinchcliffe	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport-Honda	Alternate