Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
105th Running of the Indianapolis 500
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
FAST FRIDAY NOTES/QUOTES – May 21, 2021
FAST FRIDAY ENDS WITH RAHAL, SATO AND FERRUCCI HAPPY WITH THEIR SPEEDS
1) Scott Dixon 233.302 mph
8) Takuma Sato 231.598 mph (10-second, no tow: 5th)
11) Graham Rahal 231.518 mph (10-second, no tow: 2nd)
14) Santino Ferrucci 230.924 mph (10-second, no tow: 9th)
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 United Rentals Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was a solid day for the United Rentals team. We recovered well at the end there. We changed a lot today to try and get into a better balance for me; it wasn’t a speed thing, it was just more balance but I do think at the end we were able to find quite a lot of speed so I’m pleased with it. The boys did a great job, Honda did a great job. If you look at the top of the charts, Honda is in for a good shot of filling up the top couple of rows which we’re proud to see. We’ve got to keep our heads down, tomorrow could be a completely different day. We don’t know what everybody’s got in store for us, we don’t know where our draw is going to be but we know there are challenges ahead. We’ve just got to keep focused here.”
TAKUMA SATO, No. 30 Panasonic / PeopleReady Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was a very good Fast Friday. Obviously, we bumped up the boost and going to see a 230 mph+. It was a very productive day. We ran only four short sim runs which was half of what we actually planned but that’s because every run we did a really good analysis and then the 30 car in particular just made really good progress. We were very happy in the end. I think all of our speed is coming really close together so that’s very satisfying and obviously most important tomorrow and the day after but I think it was very good preparation.”
SANTINO FERRUCCI, No. 45 Hy-Vee Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It’s hard to get back in the car after something like that. I had a lot of confidence in the guys. They’ve been here since 5:30 this morning, turning and burning, and they gave me the confidence to come back out and go flat in our first run and a couple of trip stages later, go back out and put the car in the top 10 and have some of the fastest four lap averages. I can’t argue with that; our Hy-Vee Honda has been on fire today. I’m thinking that we are going for the top nine tomorrow so we’ve still got a lot of work to do. I’m proud of these guys. We’re going to button some things up that we didn’t have a chance to last night and keep massaging this girl until she’s fast. I’m just a racer and I just want to go fast and today’s the best day to go do that. We just keep pushing each other, the team keeps working hard, I want to keep working hard for the team and I’m just proud that the Hy-Vee car is fast. I’m happy to see them up in high spirits, especially after everything that’s happened. Normally it brings a team down but for us it brought us closer together and lifted us up. I’m alright now, I don’t feel it (pain) at all, it’s all that adrenaline. A lot of people came over and helped out and made sure that I’m comfortable. Especially the doctors. A huge thank you to the AMR Safety team – they are without a doubt the best in the business. Just the fact that they spent all the time with me going over to Methodist and coming back and doing some work on my leg this morning making sure it’s all bandaged up and ready to go.”
NEXT UP: Qualifying will take place tomorrow from 12 – 5:50 p.m. ET. Get a behind-the-scenes look at preparations for the 105th Indianapolis 500 via the Digital Ally Garage Camera on www.rahal-staging.ktnlcqy7-liquidwebsites.com.