Lundgaard, Fittipaldi and Rahal Were Fifth, 11th and 16th in Practice 1 for the XPEL GP at Road America

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

XPEL Grand Prix at Road America

NTT INDYCAR SERIES – Round 8 of 17

PRACTICE NOTES / QUOTES – Friday, June 7, 2024

LUNDGAARD, FITTIPALDI AND RAHAL WERE FIFTH, 11TH AND 16TH IN PRACTICE 1 FOR THE XPEL GRAND PRIX AT ROAD AMERICA

1) Alex Palou 1:43.1709 / 140.063 mph

5) Christian Lundgaard 1:43.3984 / 139.755 mph

11) Pietro Fittipaldi 1:43.7134 / 139.330 mph

16) Graham Rahal 1:44.0668 / 138.857 mph

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Hendrickson Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We were competitive early-on in the session. Mid-session I was trying some stuff with (driving) lines that was showing some mild gains but then I couldn’t put the whole lap together, so that was disappointing, but I think we’re competitive. I don’t know if we got a bad set of alternate tires, but the tires blistered right away. I could feel it and I didn’t even push hard on the first lap, but I could feel the left rear tire was in trouble and sure enough, when we came in it was blistered badly. We’ve got to look at that and understand why but overall, we’re competitive. We’ll try for more gains tomorrow for the Hendrickson team.”

FAST FACTS: Will be his 11th Indy car race here and 15th overall. Last year, he started 14th, ran as high as 10th and finished 11th in the race. On his first of three stops, fuel sprayed from the top of the fuel rig and extended his stop, which cost him multiple positions. He charged his way back up the field and finished 11th in his 10th Champ / Indy car race here and 14th overall. In his previous 10 Indy car races here, his highlights include two third place finishes (2007, 2016), a fourth place (2019), sixth (2018) and two eighth places (2017, 2022). In 2022, he started 22nd and utilized the third caution to pit early which later helped him run as high as second and gain valuable track position. He was running seventh in the final restart with three laps to go and lost a spot to McLaughlin and took the checkered flag in eighth place. A full list of results is available upon request… He is ranked 16th place in series point standings with a total of 101.

PIETRO FITTIPALDI, 30 5-hour ENERGY Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was a very good practice session. It’s my first time at Road America. There’s a lot of tracks this year which I don’t know, like the majority of the tracks. I only know four of the 16 tracks we’re racing on. Every time in the first practice we always like doing as many laps as possible on the first set of tires. Because I’m not deemed a rookie, we have one set less, right? We’re always a little bit on the back foot in terms of that, using a tire to try to learn the track. We did that today. Every time I get in the INDYCAR, I’m just adapting to the new tracks quicker and quicker. I think just understanding where to extract lap time with the car, which initially with the inexperience, it’s a little bit difficult. The team gave me a good car today in practice. We’re pretty competitive from the get-go. It’s an amazing circuit. Probably the best track I’ve raced in the U.S. or driven on in the U.S. There’s still many I haven’t learned yet. But this one is by far number one at the moment. I know what we need to work on. I would say for sure the goal for me is to finish in the top 10.”

FAST FACTS: It will be Fittipaldi’s first race here. His grandfather, Emerson, won here in 1986, 1988 and 1992 while Christian Fittipaldi, son of Pietro’s grand uncle Wilson Fittipaldi, earned his first series win here in 1999. He is ranked 21st in series standings with 67 points.

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD, No. 45 Hy-Vee Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We were solid in the session. We were two-tenths off Palou and we had a lap going that was four-tenths (of a second) faster than what we ended up with so I think we have good pace. The car wasn’t very easy to drive so balance-wise, we’ve got some work to do. It looks like it’s going to rain tomorrow so it was good to have a productive day. I don’t mind if it rains. I love driving in the wet. It looks like it could be a drying track for the end of qualifying and the last time it did that, the Hy-Vee car was on pole.”

FAST FACTS: Will be his third race here. In the previous road course race this season at IMS, he qualified second and finished third. Last year here, he started seventh, ran as high as fifth and finished seventh. In his debut at the track in 2022, he started 13th, conserved his fuel while maintaining a strong pace and cycled into the lead for his second of three stops on Lap 30 of 55 and went on to take the checkered flag in 10th place. On Saturday, he was a mere 0.01 from progressing to Group 2 and ended up seventh in his qualifying round. His best series finish is second place at the IMS road course in July 2022… He is ranked 11th in series point standings with 122.

NEXT UP: Practice 2 will take place from 10:10-11:10 a.m. CT tomorrow and qualifying will begin at 2:25 p.m. Sunday’s XPEL Grand Prix of Road America will take the Green Flag at 2:45 p.m. CT and coverage will begin on NBC at 3:30 p.m. ET.