Indianapolis 500 – Indianapolis Motor Speedway
IZOD IndyCar Series
PRACTICE NOTES/QUOTES – Wednesday, May 15, 2013
RAHAL AND JAKES LOG MILES IN THEIR PRIMARY CARS AT INDY FOR THE FIRST TIME; JOURDAIN JR. OPTIMISTIC ABOUT PROGRESS TODAY
1) Dario Franchitti 224.236 mph / 40.1363 68 laps
16) James Jakes 221.241 mph / 40.6797 42 laps
30) Graham Rahal 219.123 mph / 41.0728 49 laps
32) Michel Jourdain Jr. 218.037 mph / 41.2774 93 laps
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Midas / Big O Tires Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We didn’t get as much done as we wanted too but I think we found some great things that will help us going forward. The Midas / Big O Tires guys worked hard and we found a little bit of speed there at the end. We just have to keep working on it. We’re not where we want to be but we have to find every little thing and keep moving forward.”
JAMES JAKES, No. 16 Acorn Stairlifts Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We shook down the Acorn Stairlifts race car and I think we made some progress with the race setup so that area looks good. Hopefully we will get a few more days of running before qualifying but I know the weather looks a bit dodgy. The guys worked hard last night to switch everything over and it looks pretty positive. We still need to find a few pieces of the puzzle here and there so hopefully we won’t lose the next two days to weather.”
MICHEL JOURDAIN JR, No. 17 Office Depot Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was a very long day. We were completely lost and we made some big changes. Although we aren’t as fast as we want to be, I think we found the direction we need to go in for the Office Depot car. I can feel the car now and have more confidence in it which is better but we still have a ways to go.”
RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING AT INDY … The team’s highest start and finish in the event came in 2004 when Buddy Rice won from pole. In addition, the team has earned a total of four podiums (2nd – Meira 2005; 3rd – Rahal 1994, 1995). The team was in contention to win the race as recent as 2011 when Bertrand Baguette led laps 139-140 and laps 189-197 of the 200 lap race. Had a caution come our before Baguette was forced to pit for a splash of fuel, he might have been the victor. The race ultimately ended under caution when JR Hildebrand crashed on the front straight while in the lead on the final lap… The 2013 race will mark the 16th year for the team in the event. Prior to 2013, the team prepared a total of 28 entries for drivers such as Bobby Rahal (1992-1995), Mike Groff (1994), Raul Boesel (1995), Jimmy Vasser (2002-2003), Kenny Brack (2003, 2005), Buddy Rice (2004, 2006; DNC 2005 due to practice crash), Vitor Meira (2004, 2005), Roger Yasukawa (2004), Danica Patrick (2005, 2006), Jeff Simmons (2006, 2007), Scott Sharp (2007), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2008), Oriol Servia (2009), Graham Rahal (2010), Bertrand Baguette (2011), Jay Howard (2011), Takuma Sato (2012) and Michel Jourdain (2012). The No. 15 Midas / Big O Tires entry for Graham Rahal, No. 16 Acorn Stairlifts entry for James Jakes and No. 17 Office Depot entry for Michel Jourdain will bring that total to 31 in 2013.
NEXT UP: Practice will resume tomorrow from 12-6 PM ET. The 97th Indianapolis 500 race will be May 26 and will be televised by ABC at 12 p.m. (ET) and broadcast by the IMS Radio Network on Sirius XM (XM 94 and Sirius 212). Timing and Scoring information is available for all sessions from www.indycar.com.
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