Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
IZOD IndyCar Series –
TESTING NOTES/QUOTES – Wednesday, April 4, 2012
RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING GAINED VALUABLE OVAL EXPERIENCE AT TODAY’S TEST AT
TAKUMA SATO, No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I am very excited to be back at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. After a long winter, a street course and a road course race, to have your first test on an oval take place at
FAST FACTS: Was RLL and Sato’s first test day on an oval of the 2012 season. Sato ran 60 laps for a total of 150 miles with a best lap time of 212.573 mph.… Sato qualified 10th for the Indy 500 in 2011 and finished 33rd after contact. In 2010, he qualified 30th and finished 20th… It is Sato’s first season at RLL and third in IndyCar… Sato led the season-opener in St. Pete two times for a total of 11 laps. He qualified 15th and passed three cars on the start, passed three cars on the second (re)start and two on another to move to the lead two times. He pitted from the lead for his final stop and suffered a mechanical failure that resulted in a 22nd place finish… Sato passed four cars in his first stint at Barber, struggled on his second on primary tires and retired with mechanical failure… In 34 starts in 2010-2011, has 17 career top-10 starting spots including four top-five starts and two poles (
INDY 500 HELMET CONTEST: Sato is holding a “With you
GERRY HUGHES, Race Engineer for Sato: “We have had a reasonably productive day here today. We have been playing catch up in terms of the test which was conducted the end of last year. Whilst we have made progress, there is clearly a long way to go in terms of understanding how to optimize performance of the new DW12 chassis. We will look at the data we have collected today and come back next month stronger and have a clearer direction in terms of what we need to do to achieve a fast car.”
RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING AT INDY… 2012 marks the 21st consecutive season of competition for the team. Team owner
NEXT UP: The series will take this weekend off and return to action on April 15 for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. RLL won the GT class of the ALMS race from pole in