Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Baltimore Grand Prix – Baltimore, Maryland
IZOD IndyCar Series]
PRACTICE NOTES/QUOTES — Friday, August 31, 2012
PRACTICE FOR THE BALTIMORE GRAND PRIX WAS LIMITED DUE TO TRACK MODIFICATIONS; SATO COMPLETED 19 LAPS AND SET THE 21ST FASTEST LAP
FASTEST: Will Power 1:21.0185 / 90.646 mph
21st: Takuma Sato 1:23.0918 / 88.384 mph
TAKUMA SATO, No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was a short day in terms of practice time. We had to try quite a few things like ride height – particularly over the bumps which you have to fight. We need to look into the data but there are a number of things we have to improve quite a lot to get the balance right and get a little bit more grip overall. Let’s see how the chicane will change for tomorrow too. We will evaluate a few things and hopefully we are closer to having the right balance tomorrow.”
FIRST INDYCAR RACE AT BALTIMORE FOR RLL RACING: The Baltimore Grand Prix will mark the first IndyCar race for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) here and SECOND overall after competing in the ALMS race last year. Last year at Baltimore, the team’s ALMS GT program – BMW Team RLL — qualified on pole (No. 55) and in third (No. 56). The No. 55 car was taken out of the lead by contact from a Corvette and the team finished fifth (No. 55) and second (No. 56). The No. 15 entry for Takuma Sato will be the first Indy car entry in this race.
NEXT UP: Practice will take place tomorrow from 9:00-10:00 a.m. ET and qualifying will take place from 12:05 – 1:20 p.m. Timing and Scoring information is available for all sessions from www.indycar.com. The qualifying show for the Baltimore Grand Prix will be televised on NBC Sports Network at 6 p.m. ET Saturday night and the 75 lap race will air live on the same network at 2:00 p.m. ET Sunday, September 2.