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"What They're Saying" from Kohler Grand Prix practice

Rahal runs up front in first day of practice at Road America

Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda

Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda

Art Fleischmann

Juan Pablo Montoya, Team Penske Chevrolet
Jack Hawksworth, A.J. Foyt Enterprises Honda
Conor Daly, Dale Coyne Racing Honda
Tony Kanaan, Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet
Takuma Sato, A.J. Foyt Enterprises Honda
Max Chilton, Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet
Gabby Chaves, Dale Coyne Racing Honda
Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport Honda
Conor Daly, Dale Coyne Racing Honda
Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet
Alexander Rossi, Herta - Andretti Autosport Honda
James Hinchcliffe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda
Takuma Sato, A.J. Foyt Enterprises Honda
Sébastien Bourdais, KV Racing Technology Chevrolet
Alexander Rossi, Herta - Andretti Autosport Honda
Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport Honda

Graham Rahal (No. 15 Gehl/D-A Lubricant Honda): "It's nice being fastest but we all know it's just Friday. We're really limited on tires so I'm surprised we ended up where we did. We have a set less than everybody else since we weren't able to run five laps in the first 20 minutes of the first session due to the electronics problem. We had an antenna that is supplied by Cosworth that was faulty. At first we didn't know that was the problem.

When we turned it on, it fried the logger box. Then when we put a new logger box in, the antenna fried it too. Cosworth got it sorted out but we lost 40 minutes of practice time in the first session and didn't get the extra set of tires. I'm really pleased with our tire usage with everything we faced in the first session.

The Gehl / D-A Lubricant car had a good pace but that lap should have been better. I'm a little disappointed in myself because I threw at least a tenth of a second away on the last corner. We'll keep our heads down and keep pounding hard to make the car better. It's awesome to be here at Road America. On the out laps you see all the fans and it's spectacular. It's far better than I ever remember a Friday being here. There are people everywhere and we can't thank (Verizon IndyCar Series) fans enough. This proves to everyone that has never been here what Road America is all about."

Will Power (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): "The tire never feels in the road, never feels like it has a lot of bite. That is just the surface. It makes it interesting. I mean, it makes it good. You really have to get your balance right and drive it right to get the time. You see a lot of people making mistakes and pushing the limits. These cars are crazy fast in the corners now, the Carousel. Almost makes you wonder if you could be flat around there. I enjoy this track a lot."

Simon Pagenaud (No. 22 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet): "I liked the Menards Chevy today. We threw quite a bit at it. The track is really changing quite a bit, but I think we're in a good place for tomorrow. This is a challenging place, so it's very important to get the car in as good a place as possible. I'm looking forward to learning more in practice tomorrow and move into qualifying with a lot of confidence."

Carlos Munoz (No. 26 Andretti Autosport Honda): "I think it was a positive practice today compared to the test last week. We were a bit more competitive, but we still have work to do. I think the second practice we tried some stuff that just wasn't as good (as the first practice). There is still one more practice tomorrow before qualifying and we will have to put everything together and set up a great car. Again, everyone is really close together in times, which shows everyone is very competitive in (the Verizon IndyCar Series). Overall, positive practice to follow the test we just had here."

Jack Hawksworth (No. 41 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Honda): "Today was quite a good day actually. We did quite a lot of stuff - experimenting with things between this morning and this afternoon. I think we found a pretty competitive car so hopefully we'll sit down tonight and fine-tune everything. The only question mark for me is the red tire, what's going to happen when we put that on in qualifying. We've seen this year that we can be uncompetitive on the blacks but we put reds on and we become competitive and vice versa so hopefully we can get that right. It will require a bit of luck as well because nobody's run the reds here but we'll do our best with that as well. Black tire-wise, I'm pretty happy with it, the ABC Supply car's in the ballpark. We tested a lot of stuff and had quite a clean day which is nice. It's good to run for a day and when we can run clean, we can have a good day."

Tony Kanaan (No. 10 NTT Data Chevrolet): "I know we all keep saying it, but it's so nice to be back here on-track at Road America. We didn't run as many laps as the rest of the field in the first session, but even without the extra laps the No. 10 NTT Data Chevrolet felt pretty good. We worked through a few different changes in the second session and we were able to find even a little more lap time. We're feeling good heading into tomorrow, so we'll make a few changes tonight and see what we can do tomorrow in qualifying."

Juan Pablo Montoya (No. 2 DeVilbiss Team Penske Chevrolet): "The DeVilbiss Chevrolet was much better during the second practice. We tried a few things and went in a different direction than from the first practice. We gained on it and we feel pretty strong going into qualifying tomorrow."

Max Chilton (No. 8 Gallagher Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet): "I think it was a great session for the Gallagher team today. With having some testing here until my belt I had some added confidence. This morning I knew we were much better than where we ended up on the timing sheets, as I made a few mistakes. I knew the car had speed and if I corrected it in the afternoon we would be fast, and we were. I'm adjusting well to the track and the conditions and I'm happy with where we are so far."

Helio Castroneves (No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet): "I think we're in good shape with the Hitachi Chevrolet. We tried several things and learned a lot. I'm confident that we'll be good for qualifying tomorrow. I haven't raced here in some time, so getting the rhythm was important today along with finding good balance with the car."

Scott Dixon (No. 9 Clorox Chevrolet): "I think I'm pretty happy overall with the Clorox car and we are playing with some aero changes for tomorrow. We had good speed in Practice 1 and didn't take a new set of tires at the end of Practice 2 so we weren't up on the timing sheets at the end of the day."

INDYCAR

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