Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach
Verizon IndyCar Series
QUALIFYING NOTES/QUOTES – April 12, 2014
SERVIA AND RAHAL QUALIFIED 12TH AND 23RD RESPECTIVELY FOR THE TOYOTA GRAND PRIX OF LONG BEACH
1) Ryan Hunter-Reay 1:07.8219 / 104.462 mph (Set in Round 3)
12) Oriol Servia 1:08.3532 / 103.650 mph (Set in Round 2)
23) Graham Rahal 1:09.0562 / 102.595 mph (Set in Round 1)
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 National Guard Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was a struggle today. We tried to make more changes to get the balance in the car better and then tried some bigger ones for qualifying. We are just struggling with overall grip. Oriol had a big grip gain on alternate tires and I didn’t feel it. We have a lot of work to do. From being second here last year and being fast, the where we are now is a mystery. Oriol did a great job. We will look at what they have done to their car and try to improve ours. Tomorrow we can try alternate strategy, pit early and see how far forward we can go.”
ORIOL SERVIA, No. 16 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Not that you should be happy starting 12th but considering where we were before qualifying and the gains I think we can still make on the car, I’m happy. With as competitive as the field is, going from one round to the second round is a very big achievement. I didn’t make the second round and a couple of tenths (of a second) would have made it. It’s just that competitive. Even if we are still unhappy with the car, we need to keep our heads down and work a little more on the details and hopefully be a little better than the others in the race. I find the tire this year is a little more difficult to figure out. Maybe it has a little less grip than last year. I don’t think anyone is completely happy so we just need to be a little less unhappy than the others and keep improving. I’m really happy. I think I did a good job. It always feels good when you can put a good lap together.”
RLL IN LONG BEACH… 3 POLES, 6 PODIUMS IN 14 INDY CAR RACES FOR RLL AT LONG BEACH: This will mark the third time for RLL to compete in the Indy car race at Long Beach 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. In their 14 previous Indy car races in Long Beach, the team entered 24 cars for drivers such as Bobby Rahal (1992-1998), Mike Groff (1994), Raul Boesel (1995), Bryan Herta (1996-1999), Max Papis (1999-2001), Kenny Brack (2000-2001), Jimmy Vasser (2002), Jourdain (2002-2003), Takuma Sato (2012), Graham Rahal (2013) and James Jakes (2013). In total, the team won three poles (Herta 1998, Vasser 2002, Jourdain, Jr. 2003); made five front row starts including an all-Team Rahal front row in 1998 (2nd – Rahal 1998, Brack 2001); earned their best finish of second place four times (Rahal 1992-1993, Vasser 2002, G. Rahal 2013) and earned six podiums (2nd – Rahal 1992-1993, Vasser 2002, G. Rahal 2013; 3rd – Herta 1998-1999).
NEXT UP: Race morning warm-up will take place tomorrow morning from 9:00-9:30 a.m. PT. The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach will be televised live on NBCSN at 4:00 PM ET Sunday, April 13.
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