Rahal, Honda Seek Mid-Ohio Repeat
• 2015 hometown winner Graham Rahal leads Honda pack in Friday practice
• Afternoon session interrupted by rain showers
• Rookie Enerson impresses with top-10 time

Defending Honda Indy 200 race winner Graham Rahal led the Honda field in Verizon IndyCar Series practice Friday at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, posting the fourth-fastest time in his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda in a rain-shortened afternoon session and ending the day fifth overall in combined session times.

Making an impressive IndyCar Series debut, rookie RC Enerson rounded out the top-10 in his Dale Coyne Racing Honda, with James Hinchcliffe 11th, only three hundredths of a second behind. Activities at the Honda Indy 200 continue Saturday with final practice and qualifying. Sunday’s 90-lap race starts at 2 p.m. EDT, with live network television coverage on CNBC.

Graham Rahal (#15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda): “The track can change so much in a short amount of time, and that why it’s hard to test here. Some teams don’t. With all the GT and other [support series] cars racing, there are a lot of different types of rubber on the track, just a lot of cars, period. We definitely improved the Steak ‘n Shake car in the second practice. We got a decent lap in at the end. The rain did catch me on the last part of the lap but we were fourth fastest [in the session], so we’ll take it. When you come here as a single car team, it’s tough. It’s all on you as the lone individual, whereas Penske, for instance, has four cars to share the data. It’s not easy, but my guys have done an excellent job of keeping their heads down and fighting hard. Obviously, we want to win here; we want to go back-to-back. It’s a big weekend for myself, for all of our sponsors like Honda, Steak ‘n Shake, PennGrade and everyone that is heavily involved and makes this happen. I hope we can have a solid weekend.”