Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Honda Indy 200 – Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
IZOD IndyCar Series
PRACTICE NOTES/QUOTES — Friday, August 3, 2012
SATO COMPLETED 33 LAPS IN PRACTICE FOR THE HONDA INDY 200 AND WAS 19TH OVERALL
FASTEST: Will Power 1:06.8632 / 121.574 mph
19th: Takuma Sato 1:07.7677 / 119.951 mph
TAKUMA SATO, No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We continued our work list from last week’s test. So many things were left due to the weather. We came here with some changes and over the course of the practice we tried a number of things. The track was a bit different. Initially it was quite greasy, low grip which is typical Mid-Ohio. And it was quite rapidly rubbered down so after the first half of the season the track was getting pretty good. We couldn’t make the most of our potential. We tried different things but I was struggling with the balance a bit. We will go through the data and continue to work on that.”
JAY O’CONNELL, Technical Director: “We were able to back up our times from the test last week and we completed 33 laps. Takuma felt the balance of the car was similar and the track improved during the session. Since we did our new tire runs a little bit earlier than some of the guys we didn’t get the maximum time out of the car but it’s a good foundation for tomorrow.”
15TH INDYCAR RACE AT MID-OHIO FOR RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING: The Honda Indy 200 will mark the 15th Indy car event for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) here and first since 2008 when Ryan Hunter-Reay started 15th and finished 10th for the team. The team also competed in the Atlantic Series race here in 2003 with Danica Patrick and has competed in ALMS races here in 2007 and from 2009-2011. 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 2012 event, the team prepared a total of 23 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) and Ryan Hunter-Reay (2007-2008). The team also prepared a Toyota Atlantic entry (Danica Patrick 2003). 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 entry for Takuma Sato will bring the Indy car total to 24 entries in 2012.
BOBBY RAHAL AT MID-OHIO: Team co-owner Bobby Rahal competed in 16 IndyCar races here (9 as driver; 7 as owner/driver). He won two races (1985 from pole, 1986), two poles (1983, 1985), made three front row starts (2nd in 1987), finished on the podium eight of his 16 races (including his final Indy car podium) and earned 9 top-fives and 11 top-10 finishes. He is the Grand Marshall for the Honda Indy 200 on Sunday.
NEXT UP: Practice will take place tomorrow from 8:00-9:00 a.m. ET and qualifying will take place from 11:00 – 12:15 p.m. Timing and Scoring information is available for all sessions from www.indycar.com. The Honda Indy 200 will be televised live on ABC at 12:30 p.m. ET Sunday, August 5.