Indianapolis 500 – Indianapolis Motor Speedway
IZOD IndyCar Series
PRACTICE DAY NOTES/QUOTES – May 12, 2013
RAHAL, JAKES AND JOURDAIN JR. MADE INSTALLATION RUNS ON THEIR FIRST DAY OF PRACTICE FOR THE INDY 500; COOL WINDY CONDITIONS LIMITED TRACK ACTIVITY
1) Carlos Munoz (R) 223.023 mph / 40.3545 70 laps
21) Michel Jourdain Jr. 215.478 mph / 41.7677 34 laps
22) James Jakes 215.285 mph / 41.8051 14 laps
23) Graham Rahal 214.092 mph / 42.0381 14 laps
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Midas / Big O Tires Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We have a little work to do to make the Midas / Big O Tires car a little more comfortable to drive. We didn’t get a tow and were running a lot of downforce compared to the rest of the guys so I’m not concerned with a comparison just yet. At the end of the day we will be just fine.”
JAMES JAKES, No. 16 Acorn Stairlifts Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was nice to get back out there and shake off the cobwebs. The Acorn Stairlifts car felt pretty good initially. We only did an installation run really so we didn’t do much. We will take it day by day and build up the running and prepare for qualifying.”
MICHEL JOURDAIN JR, No. 17 Office Depot Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It’s great to be back in the car. The feel of the speed is not as big as it was last year after not being in an Indy car in eight years but it is still big so I took my time getting up to speed as planned. For me the goal today was to run flat out, get my confidence back up, get a good feel. We only did a little bit of running. Tomorrow (race engineer) Bruno (Couprie) and more of the team arrives so I feel like we did what we had to do for the first day and I am happy about it. Now we have all week to get a little faster and get the Office Depot car up to speed.”
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 Yasakawa (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 a.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.
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: http://www.indycarmedia.com/pages/ApplyforAccess