Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
KOHLER Grand Prix at Road America
Verizon IndyCar Series
RACE NOTES/QUOTES – June 25, 2017
RAHAL FINISHED EIGHTH IN THE KOHLER GRAND PRIX AT ROAD AMERICA
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 GEHL / D-A Lubricant Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The car was a handful today. I knew about five laps in that I didn’t have the pace for a three-stop strategy. We tried as best we could to work with what we had during the race and overcome it. I would have obviously liked to have finished better but eighth is about as good as we could do today. We struggled with a very loose race car all weekend and just couldn’t put a dent in the problem. We worked awfully hard but just missed it this weekend. We will go test at Iowa now and hope to figure out some stuff there to come back strong at that race.”
- FAST FACTS: Rahal started sixth in the 55-lap race and jumped to fourth on the start past Pagenaud and Dixon. Dixon regained the spot but INDYCAR determined that Rahal had blocked Dixon so he had to give up one spot and moved back to sixth on Lap 2. After a handful of laps, Rahal knew the team would need to go with a four stop strategy rather than a three-stop. After stops on Laps 7, 19, 29 and 42 he was running 13th. A Lap 45 full course caution for Kanaan’s crash bunched the field and moved Rahal into 12th. Once the race restarted on Lap 47, he got by Aleshin, Chilton and later Rossi who made contact with another car on Lap 49. On Lap 53 he took over eighth place when seventh place Hunter-Reay made contact with another car and took the checkered flag in that spot… Will be Rahal’s seventh race here and third in a Champ or Indy car. In his two previous Indy car races here in 2007 and 2016, he finished third. Last year, Rahal not only returned to the track to race for the first time in nine years (2007), he also returned to the podium. He progressed to the Fast Six in qualifying and started sixth. He passed Helio Castroneves on the opening lap for fifth place and on Lap 6 of 50, he moved into fourth when second-place runner Dixon had engine issues. On Lap 7 he passed series points leader Simon Pagenaud for third place and held the position until he took the lead before his first stop on Lap 13. He leapfrogged Kanaan for second place when he returned to the track ahead of Kanaan but the Brazilian was able to get back by on hot tires compared to Rahal’s cold tires. He moved into second when Kanaan made his second stop before Rahal made his on Lap 26. The same scenario happened and Rahal beat him on track but was passed by Kanaan right after due to being on cold tires. He was on scuffed red tires and Pagenaud was able to pass him for third on Lap 34 with the help of Push to Pass. He made his third stop on Lap 39 and he was unable to get back on track ahead of Kanaan but got ahead of Helio Castroneves for fourth. On the restart from Conor Daly’s crash, he held fourth but was able to pass Pagenaud for third on Lap 46 of 50. He held the position and finished third… He finished third in the 2007 Champ Car race after starting fourth with Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing… An electrical failure in the season-finale Atlantic Championship race in 2006 at Road America after starting third led to a runner-up finish in the title fight with eventual champion Simon Pagenaud after he retired in 20th place… Rahal also competed in two Formula BMW events here in 2004 and once in Star Mazda in 2005… Rahal dropped to seventh from sixth in series point standings with a total of 307. Points leader Scott Dixon won the event and has 379, Simon Pagenaud is second (345), Helio Castroneves is third (342), Takuma Sato is fourth (323), Josef Newgarden is fifth (318) and Will Power is sixth (316).
NEXT UP: Graham Rahal will test at Iowa Speedway on Tuesday, June 27. The series will take next weekend off before reconvening for Round 11 at Iowa Speedway on Sunday, July 9.
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