LEXINGTON, Ohio — Ohio’s native son, Graham Rahal, wasn’t happy with his car after qualifying 12th for Sunday’s (July 5) Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, but the New Albany native maximized what he could with his No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda.
The 2015 Mid-Ohio winner turned a lap of 1 minute, 5.4947 seconds in the second round of qualifying to average 124.114 mph around the 13-turn, 2.258-mile road course. Rahal was the last of 12 cars in the second round, .4744 seconds off from the last of the drivers to advance to the Firestone Fast Six.
The NTT IndyCar Series veteran blamed a small mistake for tanking his chances of transferring to the final round.
“We’ve been struggling all weekend, so I thought, to be honest, I think we maximized it there to be able to get through the first group,” Rahal said. “Obviously we want to be a lot further up than top 12. I screwed up the second round. I went off in Turn 9 and it killed not only the one lap, but it killed the next, so it was game over for me.
“So that was very disappointing. But you know, we weren’t quite good enough there. We made a couple of changes for round two that I think probably tipped us over, but we haven’t really been good enough all weekend. So I think to get into the top 12 was a good result.”
In the first round of knockout qualifying, Rahal was sixth fastest in his group with a fastest lap of 1 minute, 5.3102 seconds. The Ohioan was .013 seconds faster than 2026 Indianapolis 500 winner Felix Rosenqvist, denying the Swede a chance to advance to round two.
A large rainstorm delayed qualifying and washed rubber that had built up during the day’s practice sessions off the racing surface, impacting the track’s grip level. But that wasn’t the biggest factor in lap time gain during the sessions.
“The temperature change helps more than [rubber going in],” Rahal said. “That’s why you see guys into the 64 [second bracket]. So, you know, that’s fast around here. It’s all good. I mean, it’s like I said, same for everybody.”
Rahal will go into Sunday’s race hoping to get back on track. The veteran sat as high as eighth in the championship standings after a podium in May’s Sonsio Grand Prix. But three finishes of 20th or worse in the past four races have dropped him to 12th.
The effort will start early. There will be a 30-minute warmup session at 9:05 a.m. ET airing on FS1, with the 90-lap race following live on FOX at 12:30 p.m. ET. The race is set to get underway at 12:52 p.m. ET.
Christopher DeHarde has covered IndyCar racing and the Road to Indy for various outlets since 2014. In addition to open wheel racing, DeHarde has also covered IMSA and various short track racing events around Indiana. Originally from New Orleans, DeHarde moved to the Indianapolis area in 2017 to further pursue a career as a motorsports writer.
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