Lundgaard Earned Third Straight Front Row Start in the Sonsio GP With 2nd Place; Rahal and Fittipaldi Lock Team in Top-11 With 9th and 11th

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Sonsio Grand Prix – Indianapolis Motor Speedway
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
QUALIFYING NOTES/QUOTES – May 10, 2024

LUNDGAARD EARNED THIRD STRAIGHT FRONT ROW START IN THE SONSIO GRAND PRIX WITH SECOND PLACE; RAHAL AND FITTIPALDI LOCK TEAM IN TOP-11 WITH 9TH AND 11TH PLACE

1)         Alex Palou                   1:09.0004 / 127.251 mph         (Group 2, Round 3)         
2)         Christian Lundgaard   1:09.0921 / 127.083 mph        (Group 2, Round 3)
9)         Graham Rahal              1:09.1491 / 126.978 mph        (Group 2, Round 2)         
11)       Pietro Fittipaldi            1:09.3698 / 126.574 mph        (Group 1, Round 2)

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We’ve not had an easy day; that’s the facts. Anything that could go wrong, has gone wrong today but the guys stuck with it and got me out of the pits on the first run by pushing and just getting the car to go (clutch issue). I would have liked better for Fifth Third Bank but man, we’ve had a heck of a day. It’s going to be a tough race from ninth. We would like to be a lot further forward. I think Christian will be very strong in the race because we know what he can do here, and we know what our cars area capable of although I don’t think we’re as good as we were in Race 2 last year. The guys did a wonderful job to get the engine replaced and then somehow a clutch failed in qualifying. I don’t think it’s anything we caused because it worked in the second session and then it failed in qualifying.  We’re going to do everything we can tomorrow to start the Month of May off right.”

• FAST FACTS: The team had to change the engine after an issue at the start of Practice 1 and he lost a session of practice. In qualifying, a clutch issue made it challenging to leave the pits for each run but the team rose to the challenge and earned a top-10 spot… Will make his 16th INDYCAR start on the road course at IMS. After a second-place finish on the road course at IMS in 2015 and 2020 (July) he hoped to breakthrough and win at IMS in August 2023 after starting from pole. He led the most laps at 36/85 but finished second to Scott Dixon in the closest INDYCAR SERIES finish ever at the IMS road course with a margin of -0.4779 to the winner. Dixon qualified 15th and spun due to an opening lap incident but utilized the early stop for repairs on Lap 5 and then chose a two-stop strategy after that which dictated fuel saving. In the closing stages, Rahal, in second, had a quicker pace than Dixon but was held up in traffic while trying to close the gap. He was also on used alternate tires for his final stint to Dixon’s new ones after flat-spotting a set in qualifying en route to pole. After getting around the lapped traffic between himself and Dixon with approx. 12 laps to go, he closed the gap from -3.5 seconds to -0.5 with a few laps to go but ultimately settled for second place with a margin of -0.4779 to the winner.  In May 2023, Rahal battled from the back after opening lap contact from Kyle Kirkwood to finish 10th. Sixth place starter Kirkwood made contact with Rahal, who had pulled ahead in the first few turns of the opening lap. It sent him into other cars, and he ultimately had to pit to replace a right rear, punctured tire. A caution came out after that for two other cars, and he pit to top off before the race returned to green. He climbed into the lead for seven laps at one point and ultimately finished 10th to salvage his race. He is hoping to earn the third straight IMS road course pole for the team, after Lundgaard won the May 2023 pole, and bring home the victory…  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 FOUR poles (2009 – St. Pete street course, Kansas oval; 2017 – Detroit Race 1 street; 2023 – IMS road) and his highest series season-ending standing is fourth place in 2015… He is currently tied for 16th place in NTT INDYCAR SERIES point standings with 48.

PIETRO FITTIPALDI, No. 30 Mi-Jack Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The car was fantastic. We made it into Round 2 in qualifying and I’m super happy and proud of the team for the job everyone did. We’re progressing. The first two races of the season were already very good at St. Pete and Thermal, but we got hit with a lot of adversity the past two races. But we worked very well together as a team and regrouped, and we executed well here is qualifying and are starting on P11 tomorrow and will build that momentum back up. I feel we have a good shot from P11 but the field is so tight. But I do feel confident with the car with the car we have. The goal is to go out there, have a clean race, execute well and if we do that, we’re going to have a good finish.”

• FAST FACTS: This will mark Fittipaldi’s first race on the road course where his grandfather, Emerson Fittipaldi, earned two Indy 500 wins (1989 and 1993). Only four of the tracks on the 2024 season are ones he has raced on but two pre-race tests have enabled him to gain recent knowledge that will assist his effort in May. On March 29, he tested the new hybrid engine on the road course at IMS and on April 10, he completed his refresher course at the Open Test for the Indy 500 on the oval… He is currently ranked

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD, No. 45 Hy-Vee Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I must say I’m a little disappointed. There was only one more guy to beat. We’ve done it before. We’ve been on the pole here in the No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda. We’ve also started second. That will now be the second time in a row that I’ll do that after getting beaten by Graham here last year. But I think as a team, we need to be proud of always knocking on the door when we’re here. We’re always competitive, and yet we’re still trying to find different things and make different things work, which was an approach we took for this weekend because we knew we had a place to fall back to. It’s kind of one of those weekends where we know we can experiment a little bit more and try to improve the overall road course package. I want to win this one for the guys. I feel like we need redemption. We’ve only stood on the podium here once but we want to win.”

• FAST FACTS: Lundgaard will make his third straight front row start here in his sixth race at the IMS road course, the site of much personal success. He won his first career pole for the May 2023 road course race and started second to teammate Rahal in the August 2023 event – both resulting in fourth place finishes. It’s also the site of his first series podium – a second place finish in July 2022.  In the August 2023 race, he started second to Rahal and was passed by DeFrancesco and O’Ward on the opening lap to run fourth. He repassed DeFrancesco a few laps later and ran mostly in the top four the majority of the race to take the checkered flag in that position. In May 2023, he led the majority of the first lap from pole until third-place starter Palou, on faster alternate tires to his harder, primary ones, passed for the lead into Turn 14. He regained the lead on Laps 18-19 after Palou pit. Tire strategy played an integral part and on one stint he was on used alternate tires when the race favored used or sticker primaries.  On Lap 57 he dropped from second to third when O’Ward passed him. He held the position through a stop and was passed by Ericsson on Lap 76/85 for fourth. He held off Rosenqvist until the checkered flag to maintain fourth place. In 2022, he finished ninth in the May Grand Prix and earned his first podium of second place in the July event. In that event, he earned his best start of the season at that point of sixth. In the race, he moved into fourth on the opening lap ahead of Power and O’Ward, who had an issue. He was passed by Herta before Kellett brought out a caution and passed Newgarden on the restart to regain fourth. He passed Rosenqvist for third on Lap 9 before his first stop on Lap 14. He held third through the majority of the race and claimed second place on Lap 42/85 when previous leader Herta slowed on course. In the late stages of the race, he pressured eventual winner Rossi but took the checkered flag 3.5 seconds behind him for his first series podium and a career-best finish of second place. While an FIA Formula 2 driver in 2021, Lundgaard, then 20, made his INDYCAR debut with the team at the August 14, 2021 race. After testing an Indy car for the first time with the team at Barber Motorsports Park on July 26, he had plenty of new elements to adjust to during a compressed, two-day event schedule but surprised many when he qualified fourth. He finished 12th in the race while battling food poisoning… He is 15th in the point standings with 48.

RLL AT THE IMS ROAD COURSE…. The Sonsio Grand Prix will mark the team’s 16th NTT INDYCAR SERIES race on the 2.439-mile road course. The team’s highest finish is second by Graham Rahal in 2015, 2020 (July) and 2023 (August) and Lundgaard in 2022 (July). Lundgaard and Rahal also brought RLL their highest start of pole on the IMS road course in May 2023 (Lundgaard) and August 2023 (Rahal).

NEXT UP:  Warmup for the Sonsio Grand Prix will take place from 11:15 – 11:45 AM Saturday. NBC will begin coverage of the 85-lap race at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday.