Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing – 21st Season
Pre-Race Notes
Round 11 of 15 in the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series
DATE: July 20-22, 2012
QUALIFYING BROADCAST: LIVE on www.indycar.com (timing & scoring with audio commentary)
RACE BROADCAST: Live on Sunday, July 22 at 2:00 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network
RADIO BROADCAST: The race will air on IMS Radio Network, SiriusXM (XM 94 & Sirius 212)
TRACK LAYOUT: 2.224-mile, 13-turn street course
RACE LENGTH: 75 laps / 166.8 miles
2011 WINNER: Will Power
2011 POLESITTER: Takuma Sato (101.971 mph)
SATO’S HIGHEST
ROAD/STREET START: Pole at
SATO’S HIGHEST
ROAD/STREET FINISH: Third in Sao Paulo 2012
SATO AT
RLL’S TOP START/
FINISH AT
NEWS & NOTES:
SECOND INDYCAR RACE IN
The Edmonton Indy will mark the second Indy car event for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) here and first since 2008 when Ryan Hunter-Reay started 13th and finished eighth for the team. The No. 15 entry for
RLL Racing co-owner Bobby Rahal competed in his first professional race at Edmonton International Speedway in May 1975 where he qualified on the front row in second place in the Player’s Canadian Formula Atlantic Series. Electrical issues ended his race. Three Indy car championships, a win in the 1986 Indy 500 and other accolades followed.
SATO ON THE NEW
This will be Sato’s third race in
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SATO ON HIS 2011 RACE AND WHAT LED TO HIS DROP FROM SECOND PLACE TO THE BACK
“I led the race after starting from the pole but lost some positions when I struggled with the balance of the car, then we lost another few places during the pit stop but I made a good restart and gained back my positions on the first lap. After the restart I overtook a few cars and I thought I made my race a new race as I was running second but I was hit by another car from the back at the first hairpin – Turn 3 I think — and I lost the drive. By the time the marshal started my engine, I was already a lap down so I could do a very little from there.”
SATO ON GETTING OFF TO A FAST START IN
“Although we lost the very first practice session due to rain I felt very positive in the second practice session in dry conditions. I was very comfortable in the car so I was able to commit right away to working on the qualifying setup and was very happy to achieve the pole. We celebrated my second pole and that was special memory.”
SATO ON EXPECTATIONS FOR THIS YEAR’S
“I expect we will be competitive at
SATO ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HIS POLES IN
Takuma earned his first two series poles last season. The first came on the 0.875-mile Iowa Speedway oval and the second came two races later at
“Winning the pole in
SATO IN
Sato competed in five Formula One events in Canada, at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve between 2002-2007 with his best start of sixth coming in 2005 with British American Racing (Honda) and his best finish of sixth coming in 2007 with Super Aguri (Honda) where he scored three championship points. He competed in four IndyCar Series races in
SATO ON THE PHYSICALITY OF DRIVING THE DW12 COMPARED TO THE PREVIOUS CHASSIS
The DW12 chassis was introduced this season and Sato believes driver input was increased. “As steering kick-back is much more than last year and the car goes faster too, we are required to keep and improve good physical performance. It requires more stamina and more from the whole body too.”
SATO’S SEASON TO DATE
Sato has run competitively in most races to date this season although his 17th place rank in series standings with a total of 176 points does not reflect that performance. He is only 39 points from a top-10 rank (10th: Servia, 215 pts). He led three races to date and ran as high as second, fourth and sixth in four others. His top finish to date this season is a career-best finish of third in
CANADIAN DOUBLE-HEADER FOR RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING
The team will compete in not one but two races in
– RLL –