Front Row Start for Rahal in Toronto
• Graham Rahal qualifies second for Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto
• Scott Dixon slots in fifth in final qualifying round
• Hometown favorite James Hinchcliffe to start sixth

TORONTO, Ont. (July 15, 2017) – Graham Rahal’s outstanding run in the final minutes of qualifying today netted the Honda driver a front-row staring spot for Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto. Rahal‘s time of 59.2245 seconds around the bumpy, 1.786-mile Exhibition Place temporary street circuit was second fastest on the day, just three-tenths of a second off the pace set by pole qualifier and defending series champion Simon Pagenaud.

The front-row start is the second of the year for Rahal – his first was a pole at Detroit in June – and a career best for him in Toronto. Both championship points leader Scott Dixon and hometown favorite James Hinchcliffe advanced through the first two rounds of qualifying to also advance to the “Fast Six” final session, with Dixon qualifying fifth and Hinchcliffe, sixth.

Honda’s Alexander Rossi, Max Chilton, Takuma Sato and Marco Andretti all advanced out of the first qualifying round, and will start eighth through 11th, respectively. Sunday’s 85-lap Honda Indy Toronto starts at 3 p.m. EDT, with live network television coverage on the NBC Sports Network.

Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda): “That was awesome! I couldn’t be more proud of the Rousseau team. These boys have worked so hard and we put it together in the final round [of qualifying]. We can definitely race them hard from here. I think we have a pretty good race car, it’s going to be a great race tomorrow. Trust me, we’re going to give them everything we’ve got. We want to get a win. When you have a car like this, and a team like this, it makes it a lot more confidence inspiring. When you go out there you know that you have what it takes to get the job done. They have made my life a lot easier. A result like this is great for all of our partners.”