Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio – Mid Ohio Sports Car Course
Verizon IndyCar Series
PRACTICE NOTES/QUOTES – Friday, August 1, 2014
RAHAL SET THE 13TH FASTEST TIME OVERALL IN PRACTICE FOR THE HONDA INDY 200
FASTEST: Ryan Hunter-Reay 1:06.5316 / 122.180 mph (set in Practice 1 of 2)
13th: Graham Rahal 1:07.0099 / 121.307 mph (set in Practice 1 of 2)
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 National Guard Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “After the morning session we tried a couple of different things and I think we lost a little bit of our competitiveness. We need to take a step back. I think we know what direction we need to head now but we only have one practice session left until it counts in qualifying. Some guys ran new tires at the end of the session and we didn’t so we’re probably a top-10 car but we need to be ahead of that. The car is just sliding around too much. If I get the rear of the car comfortable then the front of the car is poor. Then if I get the front comfortable to where it really grips (the track), then the rear is poor. The question is how to get them both to work together. We have some work to do overnight.”
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: Practice 3 will take place tomorrow from 10-10:45 a.m. ET and qualifying will be from 2:00-3:10 p.m. and will be televised on NBCSN at 5:30 p.m. ET. The Honda Indy 200 will take the Green Flag at 3:50 p.m. ET Sunday and be televised live on NBC Sports Network beginning at 3:00 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. Timing and Scoring information for qualifying is also available live with commentary.
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