Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis
Verizon IndyCar Series
RACE NOTES/QUOTES – May 14, 2016
RAHAL FINISHED FOURTH AFTER RECOVERING FROM A QUALIFYING PENALTY THAT HAD HIM START 24TH IN THE ANGIE’S LIST GRAND PRIX OF INDIANAPOLIS; PIGOT FINISHED 11TH IN HIS SECOND RACE
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Steak ‘n Shake Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “To have a result like that is pretty awesome. Overall that’s about the best we could have imagined for today and I certainly didn’t even think we could get to where we did. Obviously I’m disappointed about the penalty still. I think that if we had started up front we clearly would have had something for these guys. We could have won this thing. Look at the ground we made up. Days like today are the ones that are going to get us a championship one day. With the cold I have, I’m going to sleep good tonight. This one (race) took it all out of me. I’m really proud of the Steak ‘n Shake boys; they do a great job. We had a great strategy again with topping off (on fuel) on that early yellow then going long on that stint and getting in the top-eight. After that we kind of just chugged away. We were on the blacks at the wrong time when everyone was on the reds and to still make up two spots on that restart was pretty good. And Honda is working hard and it shows.”
- FAST FACTS: Earned his best start of third place for the first time since 2012 (Texas) but his race car failed post qualifying tech inspection for being a few pounds too light and he had to start 24th in the 25-car field. Newgarden was also penalized for the same thing. Contact between Bourdais and Kanaan on the start brought out a caution period and the team brought Rahal in on Lap 3 to top off his fuel. This allowed him to extend his next stint and he moved into the lead during the pit cycle before his second stop on Lap 25. He returned to the track in eight place and made his third stop from seventh place during a caution for Bourdais. He was in eight place when the race restarted and was able to pass Hunter-Reay and Dixon despite being on primary tires to their faster, alternate Firestone’s. He passed Kimball for fifth on Lap 47 and made his final stop on Lap 61. Once the pit cycle finished, he moved back into fifth and passed Daly on Lap 75 for fourth place, which he held until the checkered flag after 82 laps … Was his third Indy car race on the road course at IMS. In 2015, he finished second after starting 17th. He moved to sixth on the opening lap after avoiding a multi-car accident and passed Filippi for fifth place on Lap 10. As others made their first pit stops he moved into the lead for laps 22-23 and gained valuable track position before he pitted at the end of Lap 23. He returned to the track in fifth place and moved into second a few laps later when three out-of-pit-sequence cars made their stops. Leader Will Power pitted and Rahal returned to the lead on Laps 40-43 after being able to stretch his stint due to maintaining good fuel mileage compared to others. The team opted to stay on track one lap longer than previously determined before his second stop but at the pit exit Rahal closed on the car of Scott Dixon, who was returning to the track with cold tires and a heavy fuel load and slightly held up Rahal, who had a light fuel load and hot tires. Rahal pitted the next time by, at the end of Lap 43, and returned to the race in fifth place but again reclaimed second place a few laps later. While navigating lapped traffic earlier, most notably the 23rd place car of Josef Newgarden, who ran between he and Power, the gap to Power grew at times but he finally passed him after he returned to the track from his third and final stop. On Lap 63 of 82 he was -4.4 seconds behind Power but closed to -1.4 by Lap 70. He ultimately took the checkered flag 1.5 seconds behind the reigning series champion… In the inaugural Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis in 2014, Rahal started 12th, ran as high as sixth and was 11th when he was hit by Montoya on a restart on Lap 51/82 and ultimately finished 21st… His best qualifying position of the season so far is third at the IMS road course (DQ’d) and best finish is second at Barber… He moved up one position in the point standings to fifth with a total of 133. Fourth place Castroneves has 159 (+26) and leader Pagenaud has 242 (+109).
SPENCER PIGOT, No. 16 RLL / Mi-Jack / Manitowoc Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The race was really good. I think we had a really good first stint; I was able to pass a few people. The pace was good and the car was handling great. Unfortunately that yellow (for Bourdais) came out at a bad time for us but still we kept our heads down and had great stops. The guys did an awesome job. We were able to jump people every time we stopped. I’m just happy to be back in the car. I can’t thank Manitowoc, Mi-Jack and the team enough for the support. Now I will try to recover a little bit, rest up and turn all of the focus to the Indy 500. I’m really excited about that. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do and now it’s only a few hours away.”
- FAST FACTS: Earned his best IndyCar Series finish of his two races with 11th place today after he started 18th. He qualified 20th but gained two positions when Rahal and Newgarden failed their post-qualifying tech inspections. He was in 17th on the first lap after Bourdais and Kanaan came into contact then he steadily moved passed Power, Hildebrand, and Andretti before the pit cycle began. He moved as high as fifth place before his first stop on Lap 23 and returned to the track in ninth place. Andretti passed him but he regained ninth place 10 laps later when Castroneves pit. He made his second stop on Lap 40 and returned to the track in 11th place. Aleshin passed him and three laps later he lost a spot each to Andretti and Montoya and ran 14th. Newgarden passed him for 15th but he climbed to fifth during the next pit cycle before his final stop on Lap 63. He returned to the track in 12th place and moved into 11th when he passed Andretti on Lap 75. He held the position until the checkered flag… In his series debut in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Pigot ran as high as 12th and finished 14th…Although he started from pole in two of his four races here, his finishing positions have been limited due to Turn 1 incidents in all four races. In 2014, he competed in the Pro Mazda doubleheader where he started from pole in both races and finished eighth in both. In 2015, he competed in the Indy Lights doubleheader where he qualified sixth for Race 1 and finished seventh and qualified and finished 12th in race two. He still holds the Pro Mazda qualifying record which he set in 2014 (1:26.9623 / 105.836)… Pigot is the most successful driver since the formation of the Mazda Road to Indy in 2010 with 24 race wins to his credit in USF2000, Pro Mazda and Indy Lights. He was the 15th driver to graduate from the Mazda Road to Indy into the Verizon IndyCar Series since 2010. He has won no fewer than four scholarship prizes from Mazda to maintain his career’s momentum to get to the IndyCar Series.
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