Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Barber Motorsports Park – OPEN TEST
Verizon IndyCar Series
TEST NOTES/QUOTES – March 17, 2015
Rahal Fastest Honda-Powered Driver in Both Sessions on Day 2 of the IndyCar Pre-season Open Test at Barber Motorsports Park; Seventh Fastest Overall and Top Honda
Overall Times for the Test (4 sessions over two days)
1) Will Power (Chevy) 1:07.3118 / 123.010 mph (set in Practice 3)
7) Graham Rahal (fastest Honda) 1:07.6203 / 122.448 mph (set in Practice 4)
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Mi-Jack Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It’s nice to finish in the top five here, which has been a place we have struggled at before. We’ve got a little work to do for sure though but I’m pleased with our result because a lot of the guys had a lot more tires than us at the end. They just kept running new tires and we had one shot at it and to do a 1:07.62 felt nice. It should have had a five in it but that would have been about it. I’m proud of these guys. Today our objective was to try a ton of stuff as learn as much as we could about the aero and I think they’ve done a heck of a job. We test at Sebring on Monday and Tuesday and its going to be an interesting animal with the fact that it’s going to be pretty grippy after the 12 hour race but at the end of the day I’m just looking forward to turning some laps. It’s going to be good for the durability of these cars, to test how it shakes, rattles, where any weak points are and all of that sort of stuff. At the end of the day, we’ve got to just trying to turn laps in these things and test them and Sebring’s next up.”
FAST FACTS: In the morning session (Practice 3), Rahal set the fastest time of Honda-powered drivers and was P4 overall with a lap time of 1:07.6992. He also set the fastest time of Honda-powered drivers in today’s afternoon session with a lap time of 1:07.6203 and was P5 overall… Rahal, 26, will compete in his ninth season in a major open wheel series and his third full one with RLL. His highest series start is pole at St. Pete (2009; street) and Kansas (2009; oval) and his highest finish is a win in St. Pete (2008) in his IndyCar Series debut to make him the youngest winner in series history at 19 years, 93 days old… In 128 Indy car starts, Graham Rahal has earned 23 top-five finishes — including his 2008 win at St. Petersburg — 53 top-10’s, and led a total of 150 laps. In addition, he won poles at St. Petersburg (street course) and Kansas Speedway (oval) in 2009. Rahal came close to winning again in 2012 as he led the closing laps at Texas Motor Speedway before a slight brush of the wall with two laps to go forced him to settle for second place. He finished second again in Long Beach in 2013 and Detroit Dual 1 in 2014.
NEXT UP: The team will return to the shop to prepare for a two-day test at Sebring International Raceway March 23-24 prior to the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg March 29.
