Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
PRACTICE NOTES/QUOTES – June 2, 2023
AN ACTION-PACKED RACE IS EXPECTED AFTER PRACTICE 1 ON THE NEW DETROIT GRAND PRIX COURSE SAW SIX RED FLAGS OVER 1.5 HOURS
1) Pato O’Ward 1:03.0773 / 93.885 mph
12) Christian Lundgaard 1:04.1978 / 92.246 mph
16) Graham Rahal 1:04.4797 / 91.843 mph
18) Jack Harvey 1:04.6777 / 91.562 mph
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 United Rentals Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I thought the United Rentals car was solid. On the reds (Firestone alternate tires) no one got a good lap but, us in particular, we were stuck I traffic the whole time. We got one shot at it and it was a decent lap. The next lap was up but we had only taken two corners but I was already up a couple of tenths but there was somebody in the runoff of Turn 1 so that was that lap. And then that was it. I feel like we’re top-10-ish but we have a little work to do to have the pace that Pato put up there. The biggest challenge is to hit the bumps right. It’s unbelievably bumpy and if you miss the angle at all, you’re in big trouble so the biggest challenge is to hit those angles correctly.”
JACK HARVEY, 30 Kustom Entertainment Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Braking in Turn 3 was consistently one of my most challenging areas. Braking everywhere, really. We’re just not stopping the car the way we really need to. We’re struggling to turn through it. One of the things I thought was kind of hard was when I was on one lap and I would look down and be one-half of a second off what I had done the lap before and the next one I was a half a tenth (of a second) quicker. The way the time was coming was a little, not organic maybe. The Kustom Entertainment car is fine currently. I don’t know if we have Pato-type pace but certainly what Christian did is achievable. There is a lot of speed to try to find tonight.”
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD, No. 45 Hy-Vee Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It’s a challenging track for sure, especially in the race. There is a lot of tire degradation. I don’t think anybody was able to match their lap times on their second run on their tires which normally you would be able to on a track that evolves a lot in a session and over the weekend, at least. At this point, I don’t think we’ve got the best package so we need to investigate that. We struggle in some areas and need to sort that out for Practice 2 and get the Hy-Vee car further up there.”
RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING AT DETROIT: The 2023 event will mark the 23rd year for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) to compete in Detroit after 22 years of competition at the Raceway at Belle Isle Park. It is the team’s 31st race here. The team’s highest start of pole came in 2017 with Graham Rahal earning his first pole since 2009 in Race 1. Bobby and Graham Rahal have earned a combined total of three wins for the team here. Bobby won the inaugural race on Belle Isle in 1992 and Graham is the only driver to have won both races on the same weekend, which he did in 2017. In total, the team has earned eight podiums (2nd – G. Rahal 2014, Jakes 2013 & Max Papis 2000), (3rd – G. Rahal 2015, Takuma Sato 2019) 12 top-five finishes and 24 top-10’s here (chart available).
NEXT UP: Qualifying will take place tomorrow from 1:20-2:50 p.m. ET and will be broadcast live on Peacock Premium and also on the INDYCAR Radio Network and www.indycar.com (timing & scoring + live analysis). The Chevrolet Grand Prix of Detroit will be televised live on NBC beginning at 3:00 PM ET Sunday, June 4.