Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Indianapolis 500
Verizon IndyCar Series
PRACTICE NOTES/QUOTES – May 15, 2014
RAHAL AND SERVIA FOCUSED ON RACE SET-UPS TODAY BEFORE FOCUSING ON QUALIFYING ON FAST FRIDAY
1) Helio Castroneves 227.166 mph 50 laps
24) Graham Rahal 223.478 mph 84 laps
30) Oriol Servia 222.131 mph 90 laps
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 National Guard Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We focused on race stuff all day, trying to improve, trying to find a little bit more speed. We made some improvement but there is still a little bit of work to do. At the end of the day I’m pretty happy with the balance we started the day with. As Oriol said, I think the biggest thing is that we’ve got to find some grip, find a better balance for us so that we can race with these guys and stay underneath them on the track. You can see how close some of these guys can follow and both Oriol and I are struggling with that for now. I’m optimistic after today’s practice. I feel like we found some stuff that is going to help but I think we have a long road ahead before we get where we ultimately need to be.”
ORIOL SERVIA, No. 16 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I’m still not as happy as I would like to be at this point. Obviously tomorrow we are all going to the super-boost, super speeds preparing for qualifying. At the end there I finally got the balance I want for the car although I still think we need to find grip. And that’s what we’re going to have to do.”
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 2014 race will mark the 17th year for the team in the event. Prior to 2014, the team prepared a total of 30 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 and 2013), Bertrand Baguette (2011), Jay Howard (2011), Takuma Sato (2012), Michel Jourdain (2012) and James Jakes (2013).
NEXT UP: Practice will resume with Fast Friday for the 98th Indy 500 tomorrow between 12-6 p.m. ET. Timing and Scoring information is available for all sessions from www.indycar.com and includes live commentary by the IMS Radio Network.
PHOTO AND VIDEO AVAILABLE: Media members who register on the IndyCar Series media site have access to photography as well as video. Register for access to photos at: www.indycarmedia.com/pages/ApplyforAccess