Indianapolis 500 – Indianapolis Motor Speedway
IZOD IndyCar Series
BUMP DAY NOTES/QUOTES – Sunday, May 19, 2013
RAHAL WAS THE SECOND FASTEST QUALIFIER ON “BUMP DAY” WITH 26TH PLACE START; JOURDAIN JR. DID NOT QUALIFYING FOR THE INDY 500
25th: Josef Newgarden (Day 2) 4-lap avg. speed of 225.731 mph (L1: 39.8550, L2: 39.8554, L3: 39.8777, L4: 39.8935)
26th: Graham Rahal (Day 2) 4-lap avg. speed of 225.007 mph (L1: 39.9699, L2: 39.9812, L3: 40.0092, L4: 40.0345)
OVERALL: Rahal made one qualifying attempt today and it yielded a 26th place starting spot. After Rahal was in the field, he got in the No. 17 car at approx. 2:30 p.m. ET, made two outings and provided feedback on Jourdain’s car. The team checked the car, changed the under tray, front and rear wings and other items, went through a series technical inspection and returned to the track. Their best lap of the day was 219.843 mph and they were unable to get up to the speed the 33rd qualifier had posted (223.176 mph average over 4 laps) and made the difficult decision to cease running at approx. 5:45 p.m. ET.
BOBBY RAHAL, team co-owner: “We are obviously very disappointed for Michel and the Office Depot team. Despite our best efforts we could not determine the source of major instability in the car. Graham confirmed Michel’s feelings about the car when he drove it. Obviously we are quite upset about it. Until we do a complete investigation of the car, it’s pointless to guess what it might be. This chassis only has one race on it which was Long Beach with Mike Conway.”
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Midas / Big O Tires Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The Midas / Big O Tires boys have been working extremely hard and I think we have made the car significantly better. Yesterday I think the car handled a little bit better than it did on the qualifying run I made today but it doesn’t matter, we’re in and that the biggest thing. That was a tough four laps. We are moving on and focusing on next Sunday. We worked on the race car this afternoon, and that was what we needed to do today. I have been in this spot before in 2011 and it was actually my best finish ever here so I kind of knew this would be the way it was. We thought we would go quicker yesterday. We fought some uphill battles and unfortunately we could qualify. We went out this morning and right away the car was back up in the 226’s so it knew the car had plenty of speed in it. We just needed to get four laps in and move on. When the temperatures were as high as they were today, the car was sliding around significantly more. I could feel that and the wind gusts. It was pretty much on edge a couple of times but you just hold your breath, get your four laps done and get in the show.”
JAMES JAKES, No. 16 Acorn Stairlifts Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We had a very busy day; we got a lot done with the race setup. We did a lot of laps – 118 – so it was a great day for the Acorn Stairlifts car. The car was good, very good. I am very confident for the race. We should be in good shape for next weekend.”
MICHEL JOURDAIN JR, No. 17 Office Depot Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It’s so hard because the guys tried so hard but we struggled a lot and some days it was feeling a little better but it was just never really there. This morning we tried James Jakes’ set up and it was impossible to drive and then we tried Graham’s set up but it felt exactly the same and he couldn’t drive it. It felt exactly the same. We changed whatever we had time to but it just felt the same and we couldn’t drive it. To trim like we needed to do to put it in the race would have put it in the wall.”
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 and the No. 16 Acorn Stairlifts entry for James Jakes will bring that total to 30 in 2013.
NEXT UP: Carb Day will be Friday, May 24 with final practice from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. 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.
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