Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit – Raceway at Belle Isle Park
IZOD IndyCar Series
QUALIFYING NOTES/QUOTES for DUAL 2 – Saturday, June 1, 2013
JAKES BETTERED HIS CAREER BEST START WITH SECOND PLACE QUALIFYING POSITION FOR DUAL 2 OF THE CHEVROLET INDY DUALS IN DETROIT; RAHAL QUALIFIED 15TH
POLE: Mike Conway 1:18.0977 / 108.326 mph (Group 2)
2nd: James Jakes 1:18.1704 / 108.225 mph (Group 1)
15th: Graham Rahal 1:19.5418 / 106.359 mph (Group 2)
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Midas / Big O Tires Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The car was really, really loose. Yesterday’s qualifying was harder to tell because it was wet and drying and today it was just dry. Without a doubt the car was extremely loose. Unfortunately we put ourselves in a hole and we’re just going to have to climb out of it. Obviously James is extremely happy with his car; he likes a car that is a lot more loose than I do. Its challenging with the rear of the car being as loose as it is but we will figure it out.”
JAMES JAKES, No. 16 Acorn Stairlifts Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It (qualifying) was short. It's a shame we didn't get a few more laps, actually. I think we would have had a shot at pole if our session hadn't been cut short. But yeah, the guys worked really hard and overall it was pretty good for the Acorn Stairlifts StemCyte car. It will be a long afternoon today with the race and another one tomorrow but we’re in great shape. It's funny yesterday after qualifying the balance wasn't great so we made some adjustments to that and had a game plan this morning and it worked out well for us. But, like I said it's a shame we got cut short because actually if you look to the laps we only did three flat laps and if you look at the other groups three flat laps we were ahead by a half a second still. In a way it's good but it's still a little disappointing to miss out on pole. Going to have to find which hotel [Mike] Conway is staying so I can high jack his room tonight. He keeps on spoiling the party. But no, congratulations to those guys they've been strong all weekend, as well. Obviously with the weather looking uncertain today and tomorrow it's nice to start up front.”
[On being a pleasant surprise] “I think you just to be patient right now in the series. This series is that competitive that if you are off your game by a tenth you fall massively backwards. There are 25 guys who can win a race, and I don't think there is any other championship in the world right now where you can say that. It really is unique. IndyCar is a great product right now, and the depth of the drivers is fantastic. Everyone is pushing so hard and like I said if you are off your game you are going to go backwards so you really have to make sure that you are ticking all the boxes going into the weekend and if it doesn't go your way just stay patient and if you're doing everything you can do and it will come. But like I said yesterday, a big thank you to all the Penske organization. The track is really fun to drive. It flows well. It's nice to go down to Turn 3, and hang a right. And then the next two corners, Turn 4 and Turn 5, are fun. And it's a real drivers track, you know. You really have to be on your game.”
RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING IN DETROIT … The 2013 event will mark the 14th year for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) to compete at the Raceway at Belle Isle Park. The team’s highest start of second place and highest finish of first in the event came in the inaugural running on Belle Isle in 1992 by Bobby Rahal. In total, the team has earned two podiums (Max Papis 2000 – 2nd), three top-five finishes and nine top-10’s here (chart available). Prior to 2013, the team prepared a total of 21 entries for drivers such as Bobby Rahal (1992-1998), Mike Groff (1993-94), Raul Boesel (1995), Bryan Herta (1996-99), Max Papis (1999-2001), Kenny Brack (2000-01), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2007-08) and Takuma Sato (2012). Last year Sato qualified 12th and was sixth when he hit a curb that wrenched the steering wheel from his hands and retired in 20th place after he hit the wall. The No. 15 Midas / Big O Tires entry for Graham Rahal and the No. 16 Acorn Stairlifts entry for James Jakes will bring that total to 23 in 2013.
NEXT UP: The 70-lap Chevrolet Dual 1 in Detroit will take the Green Flag at 3:40 p.m. ET Saturday and be televised live on ABC beginning at 3:30. Timing and Scoring information is available for all sessions from www.indycar.com.
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