Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
IZOD IndyCar Series
QUALIFYING NOTES/QUOTES — June 22, 2012
TAKUMA SATO FINISHED EIGHTH IN HEAT RACE 1 OF THE
POLE: Dario Franchitti 1st in Heat Race #3 (top-eight in Practice 2; started 2nd)
24th: Takuma Sato 8th in Heat Race #1 (even number cars from P10-24 in Practice 2; was 24th, started 8th)
TAKUMA SATO, No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It wasn’t an easy day for us; quite difficult actually through the sessions and practice. We made good progress internally but we need a lot more speed. It won’t be easy to make progress but surely we will move forward. We will gather all of the data tonight and be prepared for tomorrow. It was good to have a sprint race like this to get a better understanding of the car.”
FAST FACTS: Will be his third race here. He won pole here last year, led seven laps but retired in 19th place due to contact after 182/250 laps. He qualified seventh in 2010 here and retired in 19th place due to contact after he completed 177/250 laps… His best oval qualifying is pole at Iowa Speedway in 2011 and his best finish is fifth in Race 1 at TMS in 2011… Is Sato’s first season at RLL and third in IndyCar and it appears to be the start of his best season to date in the series… Sato led three of eight races this year – including 31 laps at the only other oval race this year – the Indy 500 — and nearly won the event. Has led 58 laps to date in 2012… In 34 starts in 2010-2011, has 17 career top-10 starting spots including four top-five starts and two poles (
JAY O’CONNELL, Technical Director: “The first day here at
RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING AT
NEXT UP: The Iowa Corn Indy 250 will take place tomorrow, Saturday, June 23, and will be televised live by NBC Sports Network at 9 PM (ET). A highlights show of tonight’s qualifying races will be broadcast on a one-day delay at 8 PM ET Saturday on NBC Sports Network. The race will also be broadcast by the IMS Radio Network on Sirius XM (XM 94 and Sirius 212). Timing and Scoring information is available for all sessions from www.indycar.com.
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