ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – Road America has a special affinity for Graham Rahal.

The driver of the No. 15 Gehl/D-A Lubricant Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing showed it today by leading practice for the KOHLER Grand Prix in Indy car racing’s return to the fabled road course for the first time since 2007. Rahal set the fastest time around the 4.014-mile circuit of 1 minute, 43.0224 seconds (140.265 mph) in the second of two practice sessions on the day.

CLICK HERE: KOHLER Grand Prix combined practice results

“The car feels decent,” said Rahal, who finished third at Road America when driving as an Indy car rookie for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing in the Champ Car World Series in 2007. “I’ve got a little work to do, everybody does. As you can see, it’s pretty tough out there right now, pretty slippery, different types of rubber being laid down. It’s tricky.”

Will Power was second fastest in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet with a lap of 1:43.1608 (140.076 mph) also clocked in the afternoon. Championship leader Simon Pagenaud was third overall with a lap of 1:43.4804 (139.644 mph) completed in the first session of the day. The top 17 drivers in the 22-entry field were separated by less than a second on the combined session chart.

“You see a lot of people making mistakes and pushing the limits,” said Power, whose best finish in two Road America races was 13th in 2006. “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.”

For Rahal, Road America holds a special sentiment. Growing up, he watched his father, three-time Indy car champion Bobby, race Indy cars at the circuit. Graham’s grandfather also competed in sports cars at the Wisconsin circuit.

“This place is pretty cool for the Rahal family,” Graham said. “It’s funny. Yesterday, I went out on the scooter, cruised around for a little bit. It brought back so many old memories. It’s a special place for us, without a doubt.”

Max Chilton was the fastest rookie, eighth overall at 1:43.7964 (139.219 mph).

“The testing day we had here went really well,” said Chilton. “It gave me the confidence coming in here today. This morning, I made a few mistakes so that’s why we were at the bottom, but I knew if I put it right we’d be at the front, and we were P6 (in the afternoon session), so that’s a good place to end up.”

Drivers will have a third practice at Road America at noon ET Saturday ahead of Verizon P1 Award qualifying at 4 p.m. ET. Both sessions will stream live on RaceControl.IndyCar.com, with a delayed telecast of qualifying on NBCSN at 5:30 p.m. ET.

Coverage of Sunday's 50-lap KOHLER Grand Prix will begin at 12:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN and the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network.

Practice 2 results are below:

(R) Rookie (C)hassis: D=Dallara | (A)erokit: C=Chevy, H=Honda | (E)ngine: C=Chevy, H=Honda | (T)ire: F=Firestone

Total Laps: 343