Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston – NRG Park, Houston
Verizon IndyCar Series
RACE 1 of 2 NOTES/QUOTES – Saturday, June 28, 2014
RAHAL TOOK THE CHECKERED FLAG THIRD BUT CONTACT LED TO A POST-RACE PENALTY AND HE WAS AWARDED AN 11TH PLACE FINISH IN THE SHELL AND PENNZOIL GRAND PRIX OF HOUSTON; FILIPPI QUALIFIED FOURTH BUT CONTACT LIMITED HIS FINISH TO 21ST
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 National Guard Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Obviously I told Tony (Kanaan) I was sorry. It was my mistake and I feel bad for Tony. With the stack up on the restart, I was trying to keep the tires as dry as I could and I was to the left and when it stacked up I just didn’t see it at all and I got into the back of him. Obviously this sort of thing has happened about 100 times this year but it doesn’t make it right. I said last night that I thought this National Guard car could win today. We didn’t qualifying as well as we thought we could have but everybody saw how quick we were on the race track. The National Guard car was phenomenal. We have to go back out there tomorrow and try to qualify a little better and run up front. I think if the race ended under green I would have won this race for sure. And I feel confident saying that because I was moving by those guys in a hurry. Should’ a, could’ a, would’ a. I made a mistake and I don’t even know where we finished.”
LUCA FILIPPI, No. 16 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We never ran on the wet tires so it was a bit tough at the beginning then everything went well after we settled in. In the middle we were struggling a little with the worn out wet tires but still we were fighting for some positions. I think the car was very strong with slicks on and I wanted to try to overtake Simon. I was on the overtake button and wanted to take the last corner as fast as possible and I even anticipated the understeer that was coming from the cold tires but I made a misjudgment and I hit the inside wall. It’s a shame because everything went well to that point and I think the car was strong in the conditions.”
RLL AT HOUSTON / LANIGAN’S ROLE IN EVENT: The event will mark the third (and fourth) time for the team to race at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Speedway at NRG Park. The team competed on the temporary circuit downtown around the George R. Brown Convention Center from 1998-2001 but this will mark the second year for RLL to compete at NRG Park. Team co-owner Mike Lanigan’s company, MJ Promotions, is the promoter of the event. The event will mark the fifth overall Indy car race at Reliant Park and second since the 2006 and 2007 Champ Car races that MJ Promotions also promoted. Last year the team finished seventh and 18th in races 1 & 2 respectively with Rahal and sixth and 17th with James Jakes.
NEXT UP: Qualifying for Race 2 will take place tomorrow morning from 10:00-10:30 a.m. CT and the second 90-lap race will take the Green Flag at 2:50 p.m. CT Sunday and be televised live on NBC Sports Network beginning at 3:00 ET. Live streaming video and Timing and Scoring information is available for all sessions from www.indycar.com with live audio commentary from 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