Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston – Reliant Park, Houston
IZOD IndyCar Series
PRACTICE NOTES/QUOTES – October 4, 2013
JAMES JAKES AND GRAHAM RAHAL SET THE SEVENTH AND EIGHTH FASTEST TIMES RESPECTIVELY IN PRACTICE FOR THE SHELL AND PENNZOIL GRAND PRIX OF HOUSTON
FASTEST: Justin Wilson 1:04.4237 / 91.308 mph
7th: James Jakes 1:05.6092 / 89.658 mph
8th: Graham Rahal 1:05.6567 / 89.593 mph
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 blu eCigs Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I feel really good about our progress. We’ve got to find a little bit of rear and overall grip but, to be honest, we ended up eighth and frankly we were the only one to not run new tires at the end. We were on 20-lap tires and we still put the blu eCigs car in P8 (eighth fastest) so we’re in the hunt. We’ve just got to find a bit more speed. (Justin) Wilson’s awfully quick but, given new tires, maybe we would find half of a second or a little bit more. If we find a little bit more grip, we’ll be right there.”
JAMES JAKES, No. 16 Acorn Stairlifts Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Its been a little frustrating not to be able to put enough laps together (due to red flags) to be honest. I think we’ve got a strong car and can be quick here. We’ve just got to be patient and do it Saturday. We really made some changes in the second session because we tried to make sure that we anticipated the red flags and were not caught out being able to get anything done so we managed to get a little bit of work done which was good. I think we should be in good shape for tomorrow. Obviously the track is going to change a little bit but it shouldn’t really affect the setup.”
RLL AT HOUSTON / LANIGAN’S ROLE IN EVENT: The team competed on the temporary circuit downtown around the George R. Brown Convention Center from 1998-2001 but this will mark the first time for RLL to not only compete at Reliant Park, it will also be the first time for RLL to compete in a race promoted by team co-owner Mike Lanigan’s company, MJ Promotions, since he joined the team in 2011. The event will mark the third overall Indy car race at ReliantPark and first since the 2006 and 2007 Champ Car races that MJ Promotions also promoted.
RLL TRUCKIE FINISHES SECOND IN TRUCK DRIVER CHALLENGE: Todd DeNeve of Target Chip Ganassi Racing won the 2013 Pilot Travel Center Flying J Truck Driver Challenge, which took place during the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series season. He earned a $5,000 prize. Mark Bruce of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing finished second, and Greg Folk of KV Racing Technology was third. Drivers demonstrate their safe-driving abilities head to head in the competition, which took place at IZOD IndyCar Series events at St. Petersburg, Fla., Indianapolis and Houston.
NEXT UP: Qualifying for Race 1 will take place tomorrow morning from 10:45-11:15 a.m. CT. The first of two 90-lap races will take the Green Flag at 2:40 p.m. CT Saturday and be televised live on NBC Sports Network beginning at 3:00 ET. Timing and Scoring information is available for all sessions from www.indycar.com.