Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
ABC Supply Wisconsin 250 – The Milwaukee Mile
Pre-Race Notes
Round 12 of 16 in the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series
NEWS & NOTES:
DATE: July 11-12, 2015
QUALIFYING BROADCAST: Tape delayed on Sunday, July 12 at 4 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network and live on July 12 at 1:30
p.m. ET on www.indycar.com (timing & scoring w/radio commentary)
RACE BROADCAST: Live on Sunday, July 12 at 5 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network
RADIO BROADCAST: The race will air on the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network, Sirius 212, XM 209 and
TRACK LAYOUT: 1-mile oval
RACE LENGTH: 250 laps / 253.75 miles
2014 WINNER: Will Power
2014 POLESITTER: Will Power (43.1757, 169.262 mph)
RAHAL’S BEST
OVAL START/FINISH: Pole (Kansas 2009) / 1st (Fontana 2015)
RAHAL’S BEST START/
FINISH AT MILW: 2nd in 2008 & 2009 / 2nd in 2011
RLL’S TOP START/
FINISH AT MILW: 1st by Rahal (1992), Brack (2001), Meira (2004) / 1st by Brack (2001) and Jourdain Jr. (2003)
NEWS & NOTES:
2 WINS, 3 POLES, 4 PODIUMS & 4 FRONT ROW STARTS AT MILWAUKEE MILE FOR RLL RACING
The ABC Supply Wisconsin 250 will mark the 21st event for RLL at the legendary Milwaukee Mile oval. The team WON here twice (Kenny Brack 2001 & Michel Jourdain Jr. 2003), started from POLE three times (Bobby Rahal 1992, Kenny Brack 2001, Vitor Meira 2004), made four FRONT ROW STARTS (2nd – Jourdain Jr. 2003) and earned FOUR PODIUMS (2nd: Rahal 2004, Rice 2004). Prior to the 2015 event, the team prepared a total of 37 entries for drivers such as Bobby Rahal (1992-98), Mike Groff (1993-94), Raul Boesel (1995), Bryan Herta (1996-99), Max Papis (1999-2001), Kenny Brack (2000-2001), Jimmy Vasser (2002), Michel Jourdain Jr. (2002-03), Buddy Rice (2004-06), Vitor Meira (2004-05), Danica Patrick (2005-06), Jeff Simmons (2006-07), Scott Sharp (2007), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2008), Takuma Sato (2012), Graham Rahal (2013-2014) and James Jakes (2013). The team has earned 10 top-five finishes and 19 top-10’s at the track. The No. 15 entry for Graham Rahal will bring that total to 38 in 2015.
RAHAL FOCUSES ON MILWAUKEE AFTER BRIEF CELEBRATION FOR SECOND WIN
In one of the most action-packed IndyCar Series races to date, with a record-setting 80 lead changes, Graham Rahal earned the second Indy car victory of his career and became the eighth different winner in the 11 races this season with his MAVTV 500 win at Auto Club Speedway. Rather than spending too much time focused on the past, Rahal began looking forward to the Milwaukee race and what he and the team could do to ensure the best result possible both there and in the season-ending standings.
“Obviously it was good to win in Fontana and get that off my back. It certainly helps just to relieve some pressure and to not have to answer those questions any more, which is nice. With Courtney’s race and everything else, it’s been pretty busy since the win and it probably hasn’t really hit me yet exactly what happened at Fontana but it’s been fun to just get that behind us and more forward. I’m excited for Milwaukee ahead and the chance to put ourselves in a good place in this championship going forward as well. I haven’t really focused much on the win as much as have been thinking about going forward and doing well at Milwaukee because this is a big part of our season right now. It’s a big turning point for us as we need to do everything that we can to maximize our points so really I haven’t thought about it too much. I have just been focused on what’s ahead of us.”
GRAHAM ON CELEBRATING WITH TEAM OWNERS RAHAL, LETTERMAN AND LANIGAN
“I got to see dad briefly and spend some time with him which was fun and I heard from Dave which is always good,” said Rahal about his father and co-team owner Bobby Rahal, who was at the team’s sports car race at Watkins Glen, and David Letterman. “I think it was fun for Mike (Lanigan) to be there and get his moment in the sun with us in Winners Circle and he deserves it because he is a big part of the team. It was certainly great to be able to celebrate with him.”
RAHAL RANKS FOURTH IN SERIES STANDINGS WITH FIVE TO GO
Rahal is ranked fourth in series point standings with a total of 334 with five races remaining in the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series season. He trails third place Scott Dixon by 24 points (358), second place Will Power by 27 (361) and leader Juan Pablo Montoya by 73 (407) after Round 11 of 16.
GRAHAM ON WHY MILWAUKEE WILL BE AN “EVEN BIGGER WEEKEND” THAN HE’S HAD AT THIS TRACK
The 2015 ABC Supply Wisconsin 250 will mark Graham’s seventh race here. He narrowly missed winning his first pole here in 2008 by 2/10th of a second over a four lap average and started a career best second to Marco Andretti with Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing (NHLR) in what was the first Andretti/Rahal front row since 1992 in Loudon, NH. He ran between second and fourth until Lap 130 when he drove over “marbles” and lost control of his car after trying to go around the slower car of Darren Manning and retired in 25th place. He qualified second with NHLR in 2009 and briefly took the lead at the start but dropped to third by the end of the lap and ultimately finished fourth, his highest finish on an oval at the time. In 2010, he ran a partial season and did not race at Milwaukee. In 2011 he qualified 12th and finished second with Service Central/Chip Ganassi Racing (SCCGR). He qualified 17th, started 11th with SCCGR after many ahead served an engine change penalty and finished ninth in 2012 with SCCGR. In 2013 he qualified 23rd with RLL but started 24th due to a 10-grid penalty for an unapproved engine change and he finished 16th. In 2014 he qualified and finished 14th with RLL.
“I have always loved the Milwaukee Mile. It’s a pretty tricky flat track. It has a lot of history in its own right and that’s what makes it special to go there and get to race at that track. I have had up and downs at Milwaukee. The last couple of years have been tough for me there and my first few years were really good to me. With the pressure of the championship putting weight on our shoulders a little bit this is going to be an even bigger weekend than I’ve ever had there. It’s going to be mainly a one-day event and that’s also pretty tricky but I’m looking forward to it. Frankly I’m just thrilled we are going back to such an historic venue. It should be a lot of fun.”
GRAHAM ON RETURNING TO HIS EARLY FORM AT THE MILWAUKEE MILE
“I think we will be pretty competitive. The aero kit is the biggest question right now and I don’t think we have a great answer as to what that is going to do, or bring to us. But for sure I think we should be pretty solid. The team has done an excellent job. Eddie (Jones) and I have spent a lot of time focused on what we need to do to improve this one. We recognize the mistakes that we’ve made this season and we recognize the mistakes we made last year as well and what we need to do going forward. Hopefully the team’s performance will be significantly better than it has been in the past there. There is a lot of weight on our shoulders at this point just simply because we have to perform well. We can’t make a mistake. We have to be on top of our game each and every weekend and with the condensed schedule at Milwaukee it’s going to make it even more difficult.”
– RLL –
