Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Barber Motorsports Park – OPEN TEST
IZOD IndyCar Series
TEST NOTES/QUOTES – March 12, 2013
CONWAY AND RAHAL FINISHED DAY 1 OF THE INDYCAR PRE-SEASON OPEN TEST AT BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK FOURTH AND TWENTY FIRST RESPECTIVELY
4) Mike Conway 1:08.1584 / 121.482 mph
21) Graham Rahal 1:09.0141 / 119.975 mph
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Midas / Big O Tires Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I’m kind of baffled right now. The Midas / Big O Tires car obviously has some speed in it but it’s definitely hard to drive. I don’t know if it’s me but the car definitely has a lot of oversteer, understeer characteristics that are making driving it extremely challenging. But even with that I feel like we should be able to put a lap together but any time I put on sticker tires and push hard, I just go slower so I’m a little bit confused as to why.”
FAST FACTS: Rahal, 24, will compete in his seventh season in a major open wheel series and his first full one with RLL. His highest series start is pole at St. Pete (2009; street) and Kansas (2009; oval) and his highest finish is a win in St. Pete (2008) in his IndyCar Series debut to make him the youngest winner in series history at 19 years, 93 days old.
MIKE CONWAY, No. 17 blu eCigs Dallara/Honda/Firestone (tested the No, 16 Acorn Stairlifts car today): “Today was about getting comfortable in a car, working with the guys and seeing how they work and geting myself dialed in for Long Beach. I think we got through a lot of stuff, and hopefully helped the guys out for tomorrow. James (Jakes) will be in the car, and hopefully, he’ll like some of the things we got through today and be quick out of the box. Good day. Productive day and I think Graham and I got through quite a bit of work, so when the team comes back for the race weekend. They will be strong.”
FAST FACTS: Conway, from Bromley, Kent, England, will drive the No. 17 blu eCigs entry for RLL at Long Beach and tested the No 16 car today… He made 53 starts in IZOD IndyCar series competition between 2009-2012 with teams such as Dreyer & Reinbold Racing (2009-2010) where he earned his first podium of third place at Sonoma Raceway. He joined Andretti Autosport in 2011 and earned his first series victory at Long Beach after passing eventual second and third place finishers Briscoe and Franchitti to lead the final 14 laps. He moved to AJ Foyt Racing for 2012 where his season highlights were a second place qualifying position on the streets of Baltimore and a third place finish on the streets of Toronto… He has competed at BMP three times. In 2012 he qualified fourth and finished seventh for A.J. Foyt Racing. He qualified 16th and retired in 22nd after contact in 2011 for Andretti Autosport and qualified second with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing in 2010 and finished ninth. The test will be his first time in an IndyCar since Baltimore where he qualified second, started 12th after a 10-spot grid penalty and finished 16th.
RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING… Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing begins their 22nd consecutive season of competition in 2013. This season marks the first time the team has prepared more than one fulltime entry for the full IZOD IndyCar Series season since 2007 when Scott Sharp and Jeff Simmons drove for the team. Simmons was replaced by Ryan Hunter-Reay for the final six of 17 races. The team entered cars in the Indy 500 each year since then and will prepare the No. 15 Midas / Big O Tires entry for Graham Rahal and the No. 16 Acorn Stairlifts entry for James Jakes for the full 2013 season and will enter the No. 17 blu eCigs entry for Mike Conway in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Conway drove the No. 16 car on Tuesday at Barber Motorsports Park (BMP) and Jakes will take over on Wednesday.
NEXT UP: The Open Test will resume tomorrow from 10-12 and 1-5 local time. Timing and Scoring information is available for all sessions from www.indycar.com.
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