Fittipaldi, Lundgaard and Rahal Set the 5th, 11th & 17th Fastest Times in Practice 1 for the Firestone GP of Monterey

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
PRACTICE NOTES/QUOTES – June 21, 2024

FITTIPALDI, LUNDGAARD AND RAHAL SET THE 5TH, 11TH AND 17TH FASTEST TIMES IN PRACTICE 1 FOR THE FIRESTONE GRAND PRIX OF MONTEREY

1)         Colton Herta                  1:07.6325 / 119.126 mph       
5)         Pietro Fittipaldi             1:08.0025 / 118.478 mph
11)       Christian Lundgaard    1:08.1637 / 118.198 mph       
17)        Graham Rahal              1:08.4733 / 117.663 mph       

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Mobil 1 Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “On the first run, the lap time came kind of easy but after that the car was inconsistent. I think we’re out of the window on mechanical grip and that is giving us challenges but it’s so competitive that it’s not like you have to find one million miles an hour. A little bit of time gained is going to go a long way so we will work hard to find that. The Mobil 1 car looks amazing.”

• FAST FACTS: The 2024 race will mark the fifth for Graham Rahal at the track. He earned two poles in 2023 on a road course and is hoping for a strong performance in Laguna Seca’s final race for the current engine configuration before the hybrid motor makes its competition debut at the next event at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, July 7. In 2023, he was collected in an opening lap incident and retired in 27th place after starting 10th. In qualifying, he was seventh fastest in his group and failed to progress to Round 2 by less than 1/10th of a second. Four cars ahead of Rahal served a grid penalty so he started 10th. In 2022, he started on primary tires from 19th place and steadily climbed his way up the field. A pivotal decision came when the team opted to take on used alternate tires on his second stop compared to Lundgaard, who took on primary tires and ultimately finished fifth. The two had been running together with Rahal ahead in seventh place initially but the two swapped positions on Lap 57/95 and he fell four positions before the team elected to stop again for primary tires on Lap 61. He ultimately finished 18th, one lap down to the leaders. In 2021, Rahal started 12th and ran as high as fourth before his first stop on Lap 18/95. The handling of his race car was better halfway through his second stint, and he gained a few spots before he made his second stop from third place on Lap 40. He pit from second place for his third stop on Lap 67 and was able to leapfrog O’Ward by staying out longer. He held third place for 11 laps before Grosjean, whose tires had six less laps on them, passed him on Lap 84/95 and he held on to finish fourth.  In 2019, he started eighth and lost two positions on the start to Hunter-Reay and Ferrucci. He dropped to 11th on Lap 5 when Rosenqvist passed him and cycled as high as fifth place before his second pit stop on Lap 39. He ran 10th for the majority of his next stint before his third and final stop and came out 11th. He later lost a position to Hunter-Reay on Lap 68 of 90 and ultimately took the checkered flag 12th… Has SIX INDYCAR SERIES wins (2008 – St. Pete street course; 2015 – Fontana Super Speedway, Mid-Ohio road course; 2016 – Texas Super Speedway; 2017 Detroit Race 1, Detroit Race 2) and FIVE poles (2009 – St. Pete street course, Kansas oval; 2017 – Detroit Race 1 street; 2023 – IMS road/August, Portland road)…  He is 15th in series point standings with a total of 121.

PIETRO FITTIPALDI, 30 Eurofarma Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “First of all, it’s a beautiful track. It’s my first time here so I was super excited to get my first laps at Laguna Seca. It’s such a high commitment track; there’s so many high speed corners, the steering load is so heavy so you have to trust that the car is going to stick because if you lose the rear of the car, I don’t think you would be able to catch the car just because of how heavy the steering is. Our plan was to do as many laps as possible, which we did that. I think we were either the highest lapped car or were second-highest in laps completed, so we did as many laps as we could and ended up P5. We did a lot of simulator work in preparation for coming here. Every time, even when I’m learning tracks, I’m more confident and comfortable with the car and able to get up to speed faster and faster. I’m happy that the progression keeps going. Tomorrow is going to be an important day.”

• FAST FACTS: Will make his first INDYCAR SERIES start at Laguna Seca. His highest starting position of the season is 11th at the Grand Prix at IMS and his highest finish is 13th at St. Pete and Detroit.  He is 20th in series point standings with a total of 81.

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD, No. 45 Hy-Vee Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We were chasing balance during the session; it wasn’t what it was last year. We seemed to struggle a lot with just the difference in steering weight from slow to high-speed corners – and even throughout a corner, which again comes back to car balance. But I think we were a little aggressive on car balance for the beginning. I think we were just too neutral which made the car very tricky to drive and it didn’t really feel comfortable. So, the more we stabilized the car, the easier it became to drive which makes sense. But also the time came easier so now we just have to optimize everything tomorrow.  I would say I jumped out of the Hy-Vee car a lot happier than in the middle (of the session) for sure. The track grip is for sure lower, but when you see it – lap times are slower for sure but we are still there, still knocking on the door. It’s going to be interesting to see tomorrow what qualifying will produce in terms of lap times but I think we will be close to the faster lap times. We will see.”

• FAST FACTS: Will make his third start here after some history-making runs in his previous two races here. In Round 2 of qualifying last year, he set a time of 1:06.4610, which is a new track record, well over Helio Castroneves’s qualifying lap record of 1:07.722, set in 2000. In the Firestone Fast Six, he was on a lap time that would have been four-tenths-of-a-second up and good enough for his third pole of the season but made a mistake in the Corkscrew and had to settle for third place. On the opening lap of the race, he came into contact with second-place starter McLaughlin in Turn 1, which set off a multi-car crash that involved teammates Rahal and Vips. He pit for repairs and new tires and the team battled back during a race that saw eight cautions for a total of 35 of the 95 laps and he ultimately finished sixth. In his first race at WRLS in 2022, Lundgaard clinched the Rookie of the Year title over David Malukas with a fifth-place finish after starting 16th. In the race, he steadily moved up the field after starting on primary tires while the majority of the field started on alternates, which turned out to be the best strategy. After setting the fastest time in Practice 1 in Portland and second fastest in Practice 2, the team was unable to maximize the potential there last weekend but plan to do that in the season finale… He is ranked 11th in the point standings with 141.

RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING TO MAKE ITS 1000TH INDYCAR START AT LAGUNA SECA … The 2024 Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey will mark the 17th Indy car event for RLL at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and fourth here since 12 consecutive races at the track from 1992-2003. Even more notable is the fact that it will be the team’s 1000th, 1001 and 1002 INDYCAR start since the first race in 1992. The team has also competed in ALMS and IMSA races here from 2009-present as BMW M Team RLL and has earned three wins, three poles and a total of 11 podium finishes to date – including pole and a second-place finish in 2019. The Indy car team has earned three wins, three poles and a total of six podiums (1st – Herta 1998-1999; Papis 2001; 2nd – Herta 1996; 3rd: B. Rahal 1992, Papis 1999) including three straight pole positions (Herta 1997-1999).

NEXT UP:  Practice 2 will take place tomorrow from 10:00-11:00 a.m. PT and qualifying will take place from 2:15-3:45 p.m. PT.  Peacock will broadcast all sessions live. Timing and Scoring information and live streaming video is also available for all sessions from www.indycar.com and includes live commentary. The Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey will be televised live on USA Network beginning at 6 PM ET Sunday, June 23.