Rahal team runs 1-2 in morning Warmups at St. Pete….but

Takuma Sato
Takuma Sato

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing drivers Takuma Sato and Graham Rahal used the soft red tires to run 1-2 in morning warm-ups for today's Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

However, the real fastest drivers, using the hard black tires, were Andretti Autosport drivers Ryan Hunter-Reay and Alexander Rossi close behind in 3rd and 4th and giving Honda 1-2-3-4.

Rossi in particular has struggled all weekend, but early in this session the team made wholesale changes to springs and shocks and his car immediately came alive, allowing him to put up a time almost identical to his teammate Hunter-Reay. It was the first time all weekend he was able to get anywhere near Hunter-Reay's time so he might now be a real threat in the race.

The only red flag was caused by Penske Chevy driver Josef Newgarden who spun in the final turn and stalled the car requiring a tow-in with 6 minutes left in the session.

Sunday Warm-Up times

Pos No Name FTime Diff Gap FSpeed Engine Tire Team
1 30 Takuma Sato 1:01.094 –.—- –.—- 106.066 Honda A Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
2 15 Graham Rahal 1:01.175 0.0811 0.0811 105.925 Honda A Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
3 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay 1:01.368 0.2740 0.1929 105.592 Honda P Andretti Autosport
4 27 Alexander Rossi 1:01.405 0.3105 0.0365 105.529 Honda P Andretti Autosport
5 4 Matheus Leist 1:01.419 0.3245 0.0140 105.505 Chevy A AJ Foyt Enterprises
6 2 Josef Newgarden 1:01.454 0.3597 0.0352 105.445 Chevy P Team Penske
7 98 Marco Andretti 1:01.467 0.3723 0.0126 105.423 Honda P Andretti Herta Autosport with CA
8 21 Spencer Pigot 1:01.485 0.3909 0.0186 105.391 Chevy P Ed Carpenter Racing
9 26 Zach Veach 1:01.534 0.4396 0.0487 105.308 Honda A Andretti Autosport
10 9 Scott Dixon 1:01.569 0.4750 0.0354 105.247 Honda P Chip Ganassi Racing Teams
11 88 Colton Herta 1:01.586 0.4922 0.0172 105.218 Honda A Harding Steinbrenner Racing
12 19 Santino Ferrucci 1:01.645 0.5510 0.0588 105.118 Honda P Dale Coyne Racing
13 14 Tony Kanaan 1:01.661 0.5666 0.0156 105.091 Chevy A AJ Foyt Enterprises
14 10 Felix Rosenqvist 1:01.698 0.6039 0.0373 105.028 Honda P Chip Ganassi Racing Teams
15 18 Sebastien Bourdais 1:01.761 0.6664 0.0625 104.921 Honda P Dale Coyne Racing with VS
16 22 Simon Pagenaud 1:01.947 0.8533 0.1869 104.605 Chevy P Team Penske
17 12 Will Power 1:02.047 0.9528 0.0995 104.437 Chevy A Team Penske
18 20 Ed Jones 1:02.107 1.0131 0.0603 104.336 Chevy A Ed Carpenter Racing
19 7 Marcus Ericsson 1:02.162 1.0678 0.0547 104.244 Honda P Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsport
20 5 James Hinchcliffe 1:02.379 1.2847 0.2169 103.881 Honda P Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
21 59 Max Chilton 1:02.430 1.3355 0.0508 103.797 Chevy P Carlin
22 23 Charlie Kimball 1:02.520 1.4254 0.0899 103.647 Chevy P Carlin
23 60 Jack Harvey 1:02.705 1.6108 0.1854 103.341 Honda A Meyer Shank Racing w/Arrow SPM
24 81 Ben Hanley 1:03.703 2.6084 0.9976 101.723 Chevy P DragonSpeed