Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Indianapolis 500 – Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Verizon IndyCar Series
RACE NOTES/QUOTES – Sunday, May 24, 2015
RAHAL FINISHED FIFTH IN THE INDY 500; SERVIA WAS 15TH WHEN CARPENTER ATTEMPTED A PASS THAT LED TO CONTACT AND A 29TH PLACE FINISH
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Steak ‘n Shake Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I’m proud of this Steak ‘n Shake team. We pushed as hard as we could. I keep saying to the guys that the biggest thing is to keep coming home in the points. If we can be the top finishing Honda and gain some points then we’ve had a successful day. Obviously the three guys we are trying to keep up with in the championship all finished ahead of us but still I feel very good about it. I’m very proud this organization for turning our results around. Coming off the last two years here, I can’t tell you how good this feels. With 15 laps to go, to have to charge up from ninth was pretty tricky. Overall I thought the racing was pretty good.”
FAST FACTS: Rahal started 17th and ran in the top-10 most of the race. He was ninth with 16 laps to go and moved up to a fifth place finish… Was his eighth Indy 500 and fourth with RLL. His best qualifying position in the Indy 500 is fourth in 2009 with Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing and best finish is third with Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing in 2011 after he led six laps. He ran in the top-five in four of his seven previous races here… He is fifth in series point standings with a total of 204 and is only two points out of fourth (Castroneves, 206) and seven out of third (Dixon, 211).
ORIOL SERVIA, No. 32 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I think Ed got a little optimistic. I think he did to me what Hinchcliffe did to him last year. Funny enough we talked about what happened the other day. He had a run on me but it was coming too late. I don’t know if he thought I was going to lift or something. I’m sure I’m going to get a phone call once he sees a replay. It’s a shame; I think we are both smart racers and we usually don’t do those things. The race is over, the one we really wanted to win. The car felt very good. I was just being really patient because the race was only half way and I felt really strong. The team kept asking about the car and I didn’t want to change anything because it felt so good. I just wanted to be there at the end, at the last pit stop. It’s unfortunate. I think he was struggling all day and frustrated. I’m very upset they didn’t send the sweepers earlier. When Clausen crashed, he crashed because there were so many marbles up there and I was on the radio saying ‘They need to clean if they want some racing.’ And they didn’t clean them so that’s another reason I was not going to stay high; the marbles were huge. I knew if I stayed high we were crashing and Carpenter knows that. Anyway, I’m thinking of next year already.”
FAST FACTS: Retired in 29th place after Ed Carpenter attempted an inside pass while Servia was 15th and took both drivers out of the race after 112 of 200 laps… Was his seventh Indy 500 and third with RLL. His best finish here is fourth in 2012 with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing and best start was third in 2011 with Newman/Haas Racing.
NEXT UP: The Chevrolet Dual in Detroit doubleheader is next weekend, May 30 and 31. Both races will be broadcast on ABC. Rahal finished second in Dual 1 last year.
