Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach
Round 3 of 17 in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES
PRACTICE NOTES/QUOTES – Friday, April 14, 2023
LUNDGAARD, HARVEY AND RAHAL PUT IN A SOLID PERFORMANCE ON OPENING DAY OF THE ACURA GRAND PRIX OF LONG BEACH
1) Pato O’Ward 1:06.6999 / 106.219 mph
10) Christian Lundgaard 1:07.3237 / 105.235 mph
12) Jack Harvey 1:07.3864 / 105.137 mph
16) Graham Rahal 1:07.4785 / 104.993 mph
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 United Rentals Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was a solid start here in Long Beach. On the first run we were P4 ultimately, I think, but I messed up the last two or three corners and lost two-and-a-half-tenths and we were tracking to be P1 before that. On the second new tire run, we didn’t actually get a run. We have some improvement to do, we made one change in particular that didn’t work well so we have to think about how to skin that cat tonight but so far so good for the No. 15 United Rentals Honda.”
JACK HARVEY, No. 30 Kustom Entertainment Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Practice 1 for us was not too bad in truth. I felt like the car’s got potential which I felt like it was going to have coming into the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. We’ve got work to do still but I’m very optimistic that at least it feels like this weekend we’ve moved our baseline of our car further forward. We’ve got the usual amount of work to do but hopefully it’s going to be just further to the front. So far, so good for the No. 30 Kustom Entertainment car. Just want to keep that momentum going all weekend.”
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD, No. 45 Hy-Vee Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Practice one done here at Long Beach. It was a little interesting at the beginning. We did have a few issues with our ride. Yeah, we struggled with that. But in the end, we finished P10 which is great, I think. There’s definitely more time to gain in the lap time so it’s something we need to dig into and understand and we’ll find out.”
3 POLES, 6 PODIUMS FOR RLL IN 22 INDY CAR RACES AT LONG BEACH: The 2023 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach (AGPLB) marks the 23rd time for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) to compete in the event. Although the team didn’t compete in Indy car races here from 2004-2011 while they fielded a fulltime entry in the Indy Racing League (2004-2008), they did compete in the 2003 and 2004 Atlantic races with Danica Patrick and in the 2007 American Le Mans Series (ALMS) race. In total, the team has won three poles (Herta 1998, Vasser 2002, Jourdain, Jr. 2003); made five front row starts including an all-Team Rahal front row in 1998 (2nd – Rahal 1998, Brack 2001); earned their best finish of second place four times (Rahal 1992-1993, Vasser 2002, G. Rahal 2013) and earned six podiums here (2nd – Rahal 1992-1993, Vasser 2002 & G. Rahal 2013; 3rd – Herta 1998-1999). From 2009-2019, the team competed on the streets of Long Beach in the GTLM class of the ALMS/IMSA with BMW Team RLL and as finished on the podium each year but 2016-2019 although they started from pole in 2016 and led all three of those races. The venue is still the most successful for the team on the current IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship schedule with wins in 2011, 2013 and 2015, eight podium finishes and five poles in 12 years. BMW M Team RLL has a two-car entry in the GTP class of IMSA and is competing for the overall sports car win for the first time here this weekend.
NEXT UP: Practice will take place Saturday morning from 8:45-9:45 a.m. PDT and qualifying will take place from 12:05-1:20 PM PDT. Peacock will begin live coverage of qualifying at 3 p.m. EDT Saturday. Timing and Scoring information is available for all sessions from www.indycar.com. The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach will be televised live on NBC Sports beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET Sunday, April 16.