Team Statement on Parting Ways With Lundgaard at the End of 2024 NTT INDYCAR Season

July 2, 2024

Rahal, Lundgaard & Fittipaldi Were Sixth, 17th and 20th in Practice 1 for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio; First Hybrid Session Impacted by Light Rain

July 5, 2024

RLL Returns To Their Original Home Track for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio

July 3, 2024

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Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio – Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
Pre-Race Notes
Round 9 of 17 in the 2024 NTT INDYCAR SERIES

DATE: July 5 – 7, 2024

PRACTICE BROADCAST: Live on Peacock Premium on Friday from 3:20 – 4:35 p.m. ET, on Saturday from 10:50 – 11:50 a.m. and Sunday from 10:25 – 10:55 a.m. ET. Also live on the INDYCAR Radio Network (IRN) and www.indycar.com (timing & scoring + live analysis).

QUALIFYING BROADCAST: Live on Peacock Premium, the IRN and www.indycar.com (timing & scoring + live analysis) from 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. ET Saturday.

RACE BROADCAST: Live on NBC on Sunday, July 7 from 1:30 – 4:00 p.m. ET. And also on Peacock
Premium, IRN, Sirius XM INDYCAR Nation 218 and SiriusXM NBC Sports Audio 85.

TRACK LAYOUT: 2.258-mile, 13-turn road course
RACE LENGTH: 80 laps / 180.64 miles

2023 WINNER: Alex Palou
2023 POLESITTER: Colton Herta (1:06.3096, 122.589 mph)

RAHAL’S BEST MID-OHIO START / FINISH: 4th in 2009 (NHLR) and 2017 (RLL) / 1st in 2015 with RLL; will be his 18th Indy car race
here
RAHAL’S HIGHEST SERIES START/FINISH: 5 poles – Pole at St. Pete (street) 2009, Kansas (oval) 2009, Detroit Race 1 (street) 2017, IMS (road) 2023 August, Portland (road) / 6 wins – 1st in St. Pete in 2008, Fontana & Mid-Ohio 2015, Texas 2016, Detroit Race 1 & Race 2 2017

FITTIPALDI’S BEST MID-OHIO START / FINISH: Will be his second race here
FITTIPALDI’S BEST SERIES START / FINISH: 10th at Phoenix (2018) / 9th at Portland (2018)

LUNDGAARD’S BEST START / FINISH AT MID-OHIO: 5th / 4th – both in 2023; will be his third race here
LUNDGAARD’S BEST SERIES START / FINISH: 2 Poles – IMS (road) May 2023, Toronto (street) 2023 / 1 Win – Toronto 2023

RLL’S BEST START / FINISH AT MID-OHIO Pole 1997 (Herta) / 1st 2015 (G. Rahal)

NEWS & NOTES:

BACK HOME FOR RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING
The 2024 Honda Indy 200 will mark the 28th Indy car event for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) at Mid-Ohio Sports Car course, near the team’s original base of Hilliard, Ohio. The team also competed in the Atlantic Series race in 2003 with Danica Patrick and has competed in ALMS races here in 2007 and from 2009-2012 and IMSA races since 2018 when the team competed in the GTLM class. The team has earned four podiums (1st – G. Rahal 2015; 3rd – B. Rahal 1997, 1998, G. Rahal 2017), 16 top-five’s and 26 top-10 finishes at the track and the highest start is pole (Herta 1997). Another front row start came in 1999 (Herta; 2nd). Prior to the 2024 event, the team prepared a total of 47 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) Ryan Hunter-Reay (2007-2008), Takuma Sato (2012, 2018-20, two races in ’20, 121), James Jakes (2013), Graham Rahal (2013-2020, 2 races in ’20, ’21-23), Santino Ferrucci (’21) Christian Lundgaard (2022-23) and Jack Harvey (2022-23). The team will enter the No. 15 Fifth Third Bank entry for Graham Rahal, the No. 30 Mi-Jack entry for Pietro Fittipaldi and the No. 45 Hy-Vee entry for Christian Lundgaard and will bring that total to 50 in 2024.

INDYCAR’S HYBRID DEBUT THIS WEEKEND
This weekend’s The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the 2025 Civic Hybrid sparks a new era of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES with the anticipated debut of the hybrid system. INDYCAR’s new hybrid power unit, a first-of-its-kind collaboration between the Indianapolis-based sanctioning body, Honda and Chevrolet, pairs the existing 2.2-liter twin-turbocharged V6 combustion engine with groundbreaking supercapacitor hybrid technology. A low-voltage (48V) motor generator unit (MGU) is paired to an energy storage system (ESS), both of which fit into the bellhousing between the engine and the gearbox. The MGU builds power that is stored in the ESS’ 20 supercapacitors. The additional horsepower is deployed through the same motor generator on drivers’ demand. When combined with traditional push to pass on road and street circuits, the hybrid power units will help deliver a total of 800 horsepower.

GRAHAM RETURNS HOME
The 2024 Honda Indy 200 will mark Rahal’s 18th Indy car race at his home track. His best start is second in 2023 and 2017 and his best finish is his win here in 2015. He has finished in the top-five, six times in his past 10 races here. In total, he has one win (2015), two podiums (2017), six top-five and 11 top-10 finishes in his 17 races here including a pair of fourth place finishes in the doubleheader in 2020. In 2023, he lost pole by a mere four-hundredths of a second to Herta and matched his best INDYCAR start at home of second place. He led the race two times for two laps total and finished seventh after a slow fuel probe plug in on his first stop and an issue getting his inside rear tire on in his second. In 2022, he qualified 18th and finished 12th after struggling with the handling of the rear of his race car. In 2021, he started eighth and finished sixth. Year-by-year recaps are available upon request. He has also competed in many other series at his “home track.” In addition to Indy car races here, at the age of 16 in 2005, Rahal became the youngest to claim the SCCA National Formula Atlantic championship at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs here by a dominant 43-seconds. He also competed in the Star Mazda race here in 2005 (S/F 4/9) and tested a Grand Am car here in 2007. He’s looking forward to returning home.

“Last year we were really good in qualifying, started second and barely missed out on the pole. We had a good first stint with opportunities to get by Colton. but I just thought I would be patient but, unfortunately, we had a first pit stop that put us back a handful of positions. Unfortunately, that was the way the race went for us. It seemed we had some pace but we weren’t quick enough to blow by some guys, so it made it tricky. Obviously with the debut of the hybrid, it’s going to make for an interesting qualifying session in particular, to understand where to use it, how to use it and how much to use it. I think there are a lot of question marks in that regard, so we’ll see what happens there. I think it will make quite a big difference in the race. I’m not sure about the strategy on the fuel side yet but obviously from the use of the hybrid, it will be very intriguing to try understand and figure out this year.

“I love going home to race. I miss being at home, miss being in Columbus — a lot. And, I also miss being able to get to Cleveland and see one of my businesses there. I don’t have the opportunity to do that much these days. Overall. it’s a great weekend, a great place to go race and hopefully we can make it happen, have a good one and get a win.”

PIETRO RETURNS TO MID-OHIO
The Honda Indy 200 will mark Pietro’s second INDYCAR race at Mid-Ohio. In 2018, he competed for Dale Coyne Racing where he started 22nd and finished 23rd. With the addition of new paving, coupled with the debut of the hybrid system, he is expecting the new elements to “shake things up.”

“Racing at the newly-repaved Mid-Ohio track is going to be interesting. I’ve heard from friends who have driven there recently that the track has a lot more grip and it’s going to be a lot faster. I haven’t been to Mid-Ohio for a long time, since 2018, so for sure it’s going to be a pretty big change from what I was used to. The debut of the hybrid system is going to be definitely interesting. The strategy for qualifying and how you regenerate the battery is going to be different from team to team so whoever can be the most efficient with it, do simulations before the race weekend will arrive more prepared. For the races, just knowing where to deploy is important. And during a safety car period, you can’t regenerate the battery so depending on how much battery you have if a safety car comes out, it can either be an advantage or disadvantage when it actually goes green because you could end up having a lot of battery to use on the restart or no battery at all and not be able to defend yourself so I think it’s going to shake things up. We’re looking forward to it.”

CHRISTIAN AIMS TO CONTINUE HIS COMPETITIVENESS ON ROAD COURSE AT MID-OHIO
Lundgaard will make his third start at Mid-Ohio. In 2023, he narrowly missed out on a podium finish with fourth place after starting fifth and matched his best finish of the season to that point. In 2022, he started 16th and finished 11th. He is hoping to continue the trajectory and podium potential shown last year.

“I’m very much looking forward to returning to Mid-Ohio. We had great success there last year, finishing fourth, hunting down (third-place finisher, Will) Power. The track has been repaved and we’ve been successful at the newly repaved tracks the past few years, so I think there are good things to come for the Hy-Vee team. It’s the first race with the hybrid and it is going to be very interesting. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to optimize how to use it properly. The physicality of the race is going to play a part with the added weight of the hybrid and the repaved track. There is a lot to be optimistic for.”

POINT STANDINGS AFTER 9 OF 17 RACES
Heading into Round 10 at the Honda 200 at Mid-Ohio, Lundgaard has a total of 156 points and is ranked 11th overall. Rahal is 16th with 127 points and Fittipaldi is 19th with 97.

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Team Statement on Parting Ways With Lundgaard at the End of 2024 NTT INDYCAR Season

Rahal, Lundgaard & Fittipaldi Were Sixth, 17th and 20th in Practice 1 for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio; First Hybrid Session Impacted by Light Rain

RLL Returns To Their Original Home Track for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio

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