Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach
Round 3 of 17 in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES
PRACTICE NOTES / QUOTES – Friday, April 19, 2024
LUNDGAARD, RAHAL AND FITTIPALDI SHOWED GOOD PACE ON OPENING DAY OF THE ACURA GRAND PRIX OF LONG BEACH
1) Pato O’Ward 1:06.6874 / 106.239 mph
6) Christian Lundgaard 1:07.0855 / 105.609 mph
12) Graham Rahal 1:07.4445 / 105.046 mph
20) Pietro Fittipaldi 1:08.1203 / 104.004 mph
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Fleet Cost & Care Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The Fleet Cost & Care Honda is close. We were 12th and I think Christian was sixth (fastest). All of my loss to Christian’s time is in Turn 9. I didn’t get a great lap on the alternate tires, so I think we’re right there with those guys. I think maybe we can sneak into the top six. We’ve got to make some improvements overnight. I thought we made some good gains throughout the session but there is more to come for sure. We started the session with our car a little different than my two teammates. I struggled with compliance, I struggled with a lot of brake locking, which has been a common theme for me. For some reason this car has a major, major challenge in that area. I think Honda brought their A Game this weekend. We’ve got three good cars here so let’s see what tomorrow brings.”
PIETRO FITTIPALDI, No. 30 Mi-Jack Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Practice 1 for my first time in Long Beach was good. It’s a pretty exciting track. I really loved making laps around here. It’s an iconic Grand Prix. The goal was to do as many laps as possible and we did that. There was a red flag in the last 10 minutes in the session which interrupted our run with the soft tire but the goal was to do as many laps as possible and progress from there so I think it was pretty good start. The Mi-Jack car was good and I’m going to work on it tomorrow.”
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD, No. 45 Hy-Vee Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “There were a lot of positives in the session. We tried to get on the green, alternate tires in the 45-minute session, which was red flagged so we didn’t really get a lap there on them but what we wanted to really do there was to simulate a Fast Six session where you get out on the used greens (Firestone alternate tires) at the end. The session wasn’t in our favor but I think we’re in a much better place than we were last year. The Hy-Vee Honda seems competitive so I’m very optimistic of our chances.”
3 POLES, 6 PODIUMS FOR RLL IN 23 INDY CAR RACES AT LONG BEACH: The 2024 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach (AGPLB) marks the 24th 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, nine podium finishes and five poles in 13 years. BMW M Team RLL has a two-car entry in the GTP class of IMSA.
NEXT UP: Practice will take place Saturday morning from 8:25-9:25 a.m. PDT and qualifying will take place from 11:25-12:55 PM PDT. Peacock will begin live coverage of qualifying at 2:30 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 USA Network beginning at 3:00 p.m. EDT Sunday, April 21.