Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis
Verizon IndyCar Series
PRACTICE NOTES/QUOTES – May 7, 2015
RAHAL TOP HONDA AT SEVENTH FASTEST IN PRACTICE TWO FOR THE ANGIE’S LIST GRAND PRIX OF INDIANAPOLIS AND NINTH OVERALL FOR THE DAY
1) Scott Dixon 1:10.6971 / 124.197 mph
9) Graham Rahal 1:11.1422 / 123.420 mph
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Steak ‘n Shake Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was good to be the fastest Honda in the second session but we’ve got to get some predictability in the car. It’s pretty difficult to drive; it’s on edge which is how it’s been all year but as I said to someone earlier, if it’s on edge and fast, that’s cool but if it’s on edge and its slow, that’s obviously not so at least we’re at the fast end. We’ve got to find some more things to make the Steak ‘n Shake car faster to be good in qualifying and on race day.”
FAST FACTS: Will be his second Indy car race on the IMS road course… In the inaugural race on the road course, he started 12th, ran as high as sixth and was 11th when he was hit by Montoya on a restart on Lap 51/82 and ultimately finished 21st… Rahal is hot off one of the best runs of his career at the previous race at Barber Motorsports Park. He returned to the track in sixth place from his final pit stop with 19 laps to go and was 21-seconds behind race leader Josef Newgarden. By the time he passed reigning series champion Will Power and then Ryan Hunter-Reay for fourth, he was still 18.9 seconds behind Newgarden but in the final 11 laps he turned lap times that were one-to-two-seconds faster than the race leader and passed Castroneves. On the final lap he passed second-place Scott Dixon and closed the gap to eventual winner Newgarden to 2.2-seconds… His best qualifying position of the season so far is eighth and best finish is second – both at Barber… He is ranked eighth in series point standings with a total of 103 and is only seven points out of sixth (Hinchcliffe & Kanaan, 110) and nine points out of fifth place (Will Power, 112).
RLL AT INDY ROAD COURSE…. The Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis will mark the second Verizon IndyCar Series race on the 2.439-mile road course. Last year the team prepared entries for Graham Rahal and Oriol Servia. Rahal started 12th, ran as high as sixth and was 11th when he was hit by the lapped car of Montoya on a restart on Lap 51/82 and ultimately finished 21st. Servia qualified 22nd and was struck by the flying tire of another car after the standing start. He was forced to pit for a new front wing which put him out of sequence. Later he led seven laps but the team’s hope to capitalize on a caution flag didn’t pan out and he had to pit for a late-race splash of fuel which limited him to a 12th place finish.
