Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 Presented by PennGrade
Verizon IndyCar Series
QUALIFYING DAY 1 NOTES/QUOTES – Saturday, May 21, 2016
RAHAL SET THE 21ST FASTEST TIME ON DAY 1 OF QUALIFYING FOR THE INDY 500; PIGOT SET THE 23RD FASTEST TIME
1st: James Hinchcliffe 4-lap avg. speed of 230.946 mph (L1: 38.9238, L2: 38.9544, L3: 38.9605, L4: 39.0416)
21st: Graham Rahal 4-lap avg. speed of 227.437 mph (L1: 39.3793, L2: 39.6153, L3: 39.6619, L4: 39.6288)
23rd: Spencer Pigot 4-lap avg. speed of 227.100 mph (L1: 39.6368, L2: 39.5565, L3: 39.5774, L4: 39.7495)
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Steak ‘n Shake Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “That’s (qualifying time) not what we hoped for but the car has been giving me these sorts of signs the last few days. We’re going to continue to work hard here; there is no quit in these guys and they deserve better than this and we’re going to fight hard to get it. I think we have to give it another shot, if for no other reason than to try to improve the car.
(On second qualifying run:) “We went back out to try to learn. We went back out to try a different mechanical setup. I think it was better but obviously still slow. We have got to look at why this thing is not pulling; it’s just not pulling the gears it should easy. We’ve got a little work to do. But as I always say, and I really believe, we’ve got the best team out here. It’s a great group of people and they do a great job of building this car so I see no reason the car shouldn’t be pretty quick.”
SPENCER PIGOT, No. 16 RLL / Mi-Jack / Manitowoc Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The most important day is next Sunday but I think we can improve the car a little bit for tomorrow and jump up a couple of rows. But again we are just focusing on the race especially after the track time that we lost this week. We’re focused on just building a good, fast race car. The car felt pretty good. It’s pretty windy and gusty out here which can be difficult. The guys gave me a good car. They have worked really hard the last couple of days especially and I can’t thank them enough.”
NEXT UP: Practice will take place from 12-2 PM ET tomorrow and final qualifying will begin at 2:45 PM. Provisional Positions 10-33 will qualify from 2:45-4:45 and the Firestone Fast Nine will qualify from 5:00-5:45 PM.
PHOTO AND VIDEO AVAILABLE: Media members who register on the IndyCar Series media site have access to photography as well as video. Register for access to photos at: www.indycarmedia.com/pages/ApplyforAccess