Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio – Mid Ohio Sports Car Course
Verizon IndyCar Series
QUALIFYING NOTES/QUOTES – Saturday, August 2, 2014
RAHAL QUALIFIED SEVENTH FOR THE HONDA INDY 200 AT MID-OHIO; RAIN PRIOR TO QUALIFYING MADE FOR SLIPPERY CONDITIONS AND OFF-TRACK EXCURSIONS
POLE: Sebastien Bourdais 1:24.1610 / 95.586 mph (Group 2; Round 3)
7th: Graham Rahal 1:33.3244 / 87.103 mph (Group 2; Round 2)
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 National Guard Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It’s been a pretty good day for us. This morning I thought the National Guard car was very quick. I think we made some improvements in the dry conditions and were eighth and I think we were a little better than that. And then of course we got Mother Nature thrown at us for the qualifying session. To qualify seventh is pretty good; it’s a good place to start from, a good place to work from at this track. Obviously we would like to be further forward. We missed advancing to the Fast Six by 100th of a second which is pretty hard to swallow but that’s kind of the way these things go. We had a good car in the dry so I’m looking forward to the race. It looks like its going to be a nice day. It’s great to be at home and its great to have the Ohio National Guard out here with us.”
RLL AT MID-OHIO: The Honda Indy 200 will mark the 17th Indy car event for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) here. The team also competed in the Atlantic Series race in 2003 with Danica Patrick and has competed in ALMS races here in 2007 and from 2009-2012. The highest IndyCar finish for the team here is two third place finishes (Rahal 1997, 1998) and the highest start is pole (Herta 1997). Another front row start came in 1999 (Herta; 2nd). Prior to the 2014 event, the team prepared a total of 26 Indy car entries for drivers Bobby Rahal (1992-98), Mike Groff (1994), Raul Boesel (1995), Bryan Herta (1996-99), Max Papis (1999-2001), Jimmy Vasser (2002), Michel Jourdain Jr. (2002-03) Ryan Hunter-Reay (2007-2008), Takuma Sato (2012), Graham Rahal (2013) and James Jakes (2013).The team has earned TWO podiums (3rd – Rahal 1997, 1998), 9 top-five’s and 13 top-10 finishes at the track. The No. 15 National Guard entry for Graham Rahal will bring the Indy car total to 27 entries in 2014.
NEXT UP: The morning warm-up will take place from 10:00-10:30 a.m. ET tomorrow. NBC Sports Network will begin coverage at 3:00 p.m. ET Sunday and the Honda Indy 200 will take the Green Flag at 3:50 p.m. 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.
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