Graham Rahal/No.15 PennGrade Motor Oil Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing was the fastest Verizon IndyCar Series driver Sunday morning during Warm-Up for the 42nd Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. This made him the first Honda driver to top the charts all weekend. His lap was 1:07.3319/105.222 mph. around the 1.968-mile street course. He was one of only five drivers who set their fastest time Sunday morning.
The track was 80 degrees F on average, although depending on where the multiple sensors were installed, it was hotter or cooler depending on sun and shade. The ambient temperature was 74 degreees F at 8:45am local time, just prior to the half-hour session.
Afterwards Rahal cooled off in the shade of his transporter, meeting with hospitality guests while his crew fine-tuned the car for the afternoon race.
Second and third were Team Penske Racing Chevrolet teammates – pole sitter Helio Castroneves/No.3 Auto Club of Southern California and Juan Pablo Montoya/No.2 Verizon. Another Honda driver, James Hinchcliffe/No.5 Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports was fourth, followed by 2015 IndyCar Champion, Scott Dixon/No.9 Target Chip Ganassi Chevrolet.
All twenty-one drivers were on course. Rahal and three other drivers turned the most laps – 23: Sebastien Bourdais/No.11 California Baptist University-KVSH Chevrolet; Simon Pagenaud/No.22 PPG AutomotiveFinishTeam Penske Chevrolet; and Rookie Max Chilton/No.8 Gallagher Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Turning the fewest laps were Ryan Hunter-Reay/No.28 DHL Andretti Autosport Honda and Jack Hawksworth/No.41 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Honda at 17 each.
Overall for the weekend, Will Power/No.12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet is still fastest and the only driver to break into the 1:06’s-1:06.8892/105.918 mph set in Practice 3. Rahal is fifth overall in the combined results and still the top Honda for the weekend.
The top Rookie in Warm-Up was Alexander Rossi/No.98 Castrol Edge/Curb Andretti Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Honda, in sixteenth place. Chilton was eighteenth, and Conor Daly/No.18 Jonathan Byrd’s Hospitality Dale Coyne Racing Honda was nineteenth.
The Warm-Up session isn’t known for setting hot laps, but rather warming up and scuffing in tires, practicing pit stops, tweaking cars, fine tuning and putting to right everything needs be. There are no points for winning Warm-Up.
The front straight timing and scoring issues from Saturday afternoon’s sessions have been resolved; and the timing line has been moved back to the front straight by the Starter Stand. It had been moved to the back straight during IndyCar Qualifying.
Next up is the 80-lap race at 1:30pm local time/4pm ET. Dixon is defending his 2015 Long Beach victory.
SP CAR DRIVER CAR TIRES
1 3 CASTRONEVES, Helio D/C/C/F Alternate
2 9 DIXON, Scott D/C/C/F Alternate
3 22 PAGENAUD, Simon D/C/C/F Alternate
4 10 KANAAN, Tony D/C/C/F Alternate
5 2 MONTOYA, Juan Pablo D/C/C/F Alternate
6 12 POWER, Will D/C/C/F Alternate
7 5 HINCHCLIFFE, James D/H/H/F Alternate
8 14 SATO, Takuma D/H/H/F Alternate
9 21 NEWGARDEN, JOSEF D/C/C/F Primary
10 26 MUNOZ, Carlos D/H/H/F Primary
11 28 HUNTER-REAY, Ryan D/H/H/F Alternate
12 19 FILIPPI, Luca D/H/H/F Primary
13 18 DALY, CONOR (R) D/H/H/F Primary
14 11 BOURDAIS, Sebastien D/C/C/F Primary
15 83 KIMBALL, Charlie D/C/C/F Primary
16 98 ROSSI, Alexander (R) D/H/H/F Primary
17 15 RAHAL, Graham D/H/H/F Alternate
18 7 ALESHIN, Mikhail D/H/H/F Primary
19 8 CHILTON, Max (R) D/C/C/F Primary
20 41 HAWKSWORTH, Jack D/H/H/F Primary
21 27 ANDRETTI, Marco D/H/H/F Alternate
(R) Rookie