Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
ABC Supply Wisconsin 250 – Milwaukee Mile
Verizon IndyCar Series
QUALIFYING NOTES/QUOTES – Saturday, August 16, 2014
RAHAL QUALIFIED 14TH FOR THE ABC SUPPLY WISCONSIN 250 AT THE MILWAUKE MILE
POLE: Will Power 2-lap avg. speed of 169.262 mph (L1: 21.6577, L2: 21.5180)
14th: Graham Rahal 2-lap avg. speed of 166.032 mph (L1: 21.9950, L2: 22.0206)
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 National Guard Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “On the very last run in practice I thought we found some good stuff and I think that carried over into qualifying. I was really struggling with the rear of the car and I think we improved it significantly. We had an issue with a tire so we had to change to our second set early so we didn’t really get a fair shake on our qualifying simulation but on old tires we were running low 23’s at the end of the session which was pretty good compared to what I’ve seen. It’s tough though; there is no grip for anyone. Everyone is in the same boat and sliding around. I think the tires are going to be a key factor in this race. To follow in traffic is difficult but we’ll see what happens. This place is extremely hard because it’s a flat one-mile track and we typically don’t run on flat places other than street and road courses so it is different but I feel good about the National Guard car. We have a lot of very smart people on this team and I think you guys have all seen that lately its starting to come together. It didn’t right away but I think we have honed in on what we need to work on and we’re starting to get there. We didn’t have a very good test here but we’re coming off what should be four top-10s and a couple of top-five’s in a row had we not had the gearbox issue in Toronto too. We’re on a bit of a hot streak and we definitely feel pretty good about where we’re at. The National Guard guys are working really hard and we’ve just got to keep our head down and have a really good day tomorrow.”
RLL AT MILWAUKEE: The ABC Supply Wisconsin 250 will mark the 20th event for RLL at the legendary Milwaukee Mile oval. The team WON here twice (Kenny Brack 2001 & Michel Jourdain Jr. 2003), started from POLE three times (Bobby Rahal 1992, Kenny Brack 2001, Vitor Meira 2004), made four FRONT ROW STARTS (2nd – Jourdain Jr. 2003) and earned FOUR PODIUMS (2nd: Rahal 2004, Rice 2004). Prior to the 2014 event, the team prepared a total of 36 entries for drivers such as Rahal (1992-98), Mike Groff (1993-94), Raul Boesel (1995), Bryan Herta (1996-99), Max Papis (1999-2001), Kenny Brack (2000-2001), Jimmy Vasser (2002), Michel Jourdain Jr. (2002-03), Buddy Rice (2004-06), Vitor Meira (2004-05), Danica Patrick (2005-06), Jeff Simmons (2006-07), Scott Sharp (2007), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2008), Takuma Sato (2012), Graham Rahal (2013) and James Jakes (2013).The team has earned 10 top-five finishes and 19 top-10’s at the track. The No. 15 National Guard entry for Graham Rahal will bring that total to 37 in2014.
NEXT UP: NBC Sports Network will begin coverage at 3:00 p.m. ET Sunday and the ABC Supply Wisconsin 250 will take the Green Flag at 3:50 p.m. ET. Streaming video and Timing and Scoring information is available for all practice sessions from www.indycar.com and includes 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: http://www.indycarmfedia.com/pages/ApplyforAccess