Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Pre-Race Notes
Round 3 of 16 in the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series
DATE: Friday – Sunday, April 13-15, 2012
QUALIFYING BROADCAST: 6:00 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network April 14; Live on the IMS Radio Network and www.indycar.com (T&S)
SPECIAL BROADCAST: “INDYCAR 36” will air on NBC Sports Network at 3:00 p.m. ET April 15
RACE BROADCAST: Live on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network
RADIO BROADCAST: The race will air on IMS Radio Network, XM channel 94 & Sirius channel 212
TRACK LAYOUT: 1.968-mile, 11-turn street course
RACE LENGTH: 85 laps / 167.28 miles
2011 WINNER: Mike Conway
2011 POLESITTER: Will Power (1:09.0649; 102.582 mph)
SATO’S HIGHEST ROAD/
STREET COURSE START: Pole at Edmonton 2011
SATO’S HIGHEST ROAD/
STREET COURSE FINISH: 4th at Mid-Ohio 2011
SATO IN
RLL’S TOP START/
FINISH AT
NEWS & NOTES:
FIRST INDY CAR RACE FOR RLL IN
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing began their 21st consecutive season of competition in 2012. The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach (TGPLB) marks the team’s 13th time to compete in the event and their first since 2003 when Michel Jourdain, Jr. won pole, led a race high 48 laps and was in the lead when his car stuck in gear on his final stop with seven laps to go and ultimately retired in 15th place. Although the team didn’t compete in Indy car races here from 2004-2011 while they fielded a fulltime entry in the Indy Racing League (2004-2008), they did compete in the 2003 and 2004 Atlantic races with Danica Patrick and in the 2007 American Le Mans Series (ALMS) race. In 2009, the team returned to the streets of
In their 12 previous Indy car races in
RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING – TWICE THE ACTION WITH TWO SERIES
This weekend’s race will mark the first time for the team to compete in two series on the same weekend in almost five years. RLL’s ALMS and Indy car teams last competed at the same venue on September 1-2, 2007 at
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR JAY O’CONNELL ON LOGISTICS & BENEFITS OF A RLL DOUBLEHEADER
“From a logistics standpoint, it is pretty good to have both teams, engineers and etc. at the same site,” said O’Connell, who oversees both Indy car and ALMS programs. “Obviously there are different trucks and different paddocks but they are only a few minutes apart and we share the same pit lane so it’s pretty easy to go from one session to the next. Both series are not on track at the same time so it’s just a matter of keeping up on each session and making sure that the engineers and drivers on each program are staying on top of each cars performance.
“There is definitely some useful information that can be taken from our races in
The 2012 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach will mark the third event at the track for Takuma Sato. He got off to a good start in 2012 when he put RLL in the lead of the
“
THE ELUSIVE WIN; FOUR SECOND-PLACE FINISHES FOR RAHAL AS A DRIVER & ANOTHER AS OWNER
Rahal competed in
SATO ON THE CHALLENGES OF STREET COURSES
“You have to give it everything in racing. We push the car to the limit and sometimes it's less than an inch to the wall so there is no margin for mistake on street courses in general. And most of the corners are blind because of Armco or the wall so it needs a lot of concentration and you have to be very precise, especially. Those things are what make street racing so challenging. Also the track surface is generally bumpy and slippery and the track revolution is big as a lot of rubber is laid down over the course of the weekend which is challenging for getting the balance right from an engineering point of view.”
SIMILAR PASSING OPPORTUNITIES AS THE ST. PETE STREET COURSE?
Sato passed three cars on the start of the season’s previous street race in
“The courses are not exactly similar but there are some overtaking opportunities due to heavy braking after the long straight,” said Sato. “But hopefully I don't have to pass many cars; I just need to start from the front! The team has been improving all the time and we have been learning every time we run the car. The two races were very different type of the courses so we gained good experience for this new car and leaned a lot so I expect there is another step forward at
NEW PIT RULE UNDER CAUTION AND O’CONNELL’S IMPRESSION OF THE IMPACT
Beginning at Long Beach, pit road will e open from the onset of non-emergency full-course cautions on road and street courses, potentially cutting the number of laps under yellow. The procedure will be employed for the remainder of the IZOD IndyCar Series season. Also beginning at
“It reminds me of years past when we had similar rules,” said O’Connell. “I think the main impact will be a shift in strategies since we will be racing under yellow, albeit at a lower speed, which affects the strategy decisions you will be making as opposed to when the pits are closed under yellow. We need to think carefully about how to adjust our strategy programs and our quick-decision tools because those decisions are going to change. It doesn’t really impact fuel mileage other than when you are in the yellow, there is less laps under yellow so you can’t stretch the fuel window as far as you could before. You can never count on yellow laps to help you save fuel to the end but now, if you did count on them, you are going to count on them even less because they are going to be shorter and there is less chance to stretch a tight window out further with a yellow cycle that is going to be shorter. It has implications in the race on the strategy and we have to think carefully about incorporating that into our decision making tools. It definitely impacts the entertainment value and changes the flow of the race. It can be an opportunity to move up with a good call and it’s also an opportunity to go a lap down. You have to be careful to use it to your advantage and not get burned by it.”
SATO ON THE IMPACT OF TIRE MANAGEMENT IN 2012
“Tire management is always a key factor in racing but at the Barber race, it seemed to be very challenging to get it right and was much more than it was at St. Pete. We have to wait and see how it will be at
SATO ON RLL’S ALMS PROGRAM
“I'm not familiar with RLL's ALMS team as I haven't gotten a chance to see them yet but I will in a couple of days! I've been following their competitive races and wins and it was a great start of the season with winning at Sebring so I think they are on very good form this year too. I am very much looking forward to seeing them.”
SATO — DID YOU KNOW…
Sato, 35, is a former high school and university cycling champion in road racing and track cycling and racing on velodromes was his first experience racing on ovals… Despite not beginning his career in auto racing until he was 19 years old, he progressed to Formula One in only five years and went on to become the most successful Japanese driver to compete in F1 after having finished third at the US Grand Prix in 2004… The first race he attended was an F1 race at Suzuka at the age of 10… His career was launched years later when he read about a contest in a racing magazine while in college that ultimately resulted in being one of seven drivers (out of approx. 70) to win a racing scholarship. It was a one-shot opportunity due to an age limit and, as he knew it was the career path he preferred over others, he made the most of it… He went on to compete in F1 for seven seasons and made 91 starts… His popularity in
-RLL-