IndyCar: Graham Rahal tops second preseason test at Phoenix
By Asher Fair
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal topped the second IndyCar preseason test at ISM Raceway in Avondale, Arizona.
Graham Rahal, who drives the #15 Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, topped the speed chart in the second IndyCar test session at ISM Raceway in Avondale, Arizona.
Rahal, 29, topped the speed chart with a fastest lap time around the 1.022-mile tri-oval of 19.4574 seconds (189.090 miles per hour). Right behind him was his teammate Takuma Sato, who topped the speed chart in the first test session earlier today.
This test marked the second time during which the IndyCars with the new universal aero kit took to the track in the same session, with the other coming earlier today. They are set to do so twice tomorrow as well to wrap up this weekend’s testing.
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Simon Pagenaud, who drives the #22 Chevrolet for Team Penske, was the fastest driver of a Chevrolet-powered car in 3rd place. Two more Chevrolet drivers finished in 4th and 5th place in the session, thus giving Chevrolet drivers three of the top five spots on the chart.
The session’s top rookie was A.J. Foyt Enterprises’ Matheus Leist once again in 10th place. He topped yesterday’s rookie test session before finishing in 4th in the first test session today as the top rookie.
Throughout the entire field, it was pretty evenly split between the 11 Chevrolet drivers and the 12 Honda drivers, which makes sense given the fact that all cars now use the same aero kit.
Chevrolet drivers took three of the top five spots, but Honda drivers took six of the top nine. Honda’s streak of four drivers in a row from 6th to 9th place was the longest such streak on the speed chart for either engine manufacturer.
Here are the full test results.
| Rank | Driver | Car, Team, Engine |
| 1 | Graham Rahal | #15, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda |
| 2 | Takuma Sato | #30, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda |
| 3 | Simon Pagenaud | #22, Team Penske, Chevrolet |
| 4 | Josef Newgarden | #1, Team Penske, Chevrolet |
| 5 | Tony Kanaan | #14, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet |
| 6 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | #28, Andretti Autosport, Honda |
| 7 | Marco Andretti | #98, Andretti Herta Autosport, Honda |
| 8 | Scott Dixon | #9, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda |
| 9 | Alexander Rossi | #27, Andretti Autosport, Honda |
| 10 | Matheus Leist | #4, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet |
| 11 | Will Power | #12, Team Penske, Chevrolet |
| 12 | Sebastien Bourdais | #18, Dale Coyne Racing, Honda |
| 13 | Spencer Pigot | #21, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet |
| 14 | Robert Wickens | #6, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Honda |
| 15 | Charlie Kimball | #23, Carlin Motorsport, Chevrolet |
| 16 | Ed Carpenter | #20, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet |
| 17 | James Hinchcliffe | #5, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Honda |
| 18 | Max Chilton | #59, Carlin Motorsport, Chevrolet |
| 19 | Zach Veach | #26, Andretti Autosport, Honda |
| 20 | Ed Jones | #10, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda |
| 21 | Kyle Kaiser | #32, Juncos Racing, Chevrolet |
| 22 | Gabby Chaves | #88, Harding Racing, Chevrolet |
| 23 | Pietro Fittipaldi | #19, Dale Coyne Racing, Honda |
Next: Top 10 IndyCar drivers of all-time
The next session is set to take place tomorrow from 3:00 pm ET to 6:00 pm ET before the final test of the weekend is set to take place later tomorrow from 8:00 pm ET to 11:00 pm ET. Will Graham Rahal top the speed charts in either of the weekend’s two remaining test sessions? Tune in to IndyCar Race Control at these times to find out.