Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Grand Prix of Portland
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
QUALIFYING NOTES/QUOTES – September 3, 2022
LUNDGAARD, RAHAL AND HARVEY QUALIFIED FOURTH, 11TH AND 17TH FOR THE GRAND PRIX OF PORTLAND
1) Scott McLaughlin 58.2349 / 121.412 mph (Group 2, Round 3)
4) Christian Lundgaard 58.4482 / 120.969 mph (Group 2, Round 3) *will start 3rd
11) Graham Rahal 58.4475 / 120.970 mph (Group 1, Round 2)
17) Jack Harvey 58.5332 / 120.793 mph (Group 1, Round 1)
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Quartz Engine Oil Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We were P11 in qualifying and its pretty frustrating to be honest. We’ve been fighting a little bit of imbalance and it just kind of showed its head there. In Turn 7, I was terrible all qualifying. I could not get the car to turn. I don’t think I hit an apex once in Turn 7 the whole time. On the last run, I was up a little bit, which would have been enough to make the top-six and just got into Turn 7 and the car went dead straight. Unfortunately, I think the changes we made for qualifying just tipped it over. We were able to squeak through in Round 1 but in Round 2, it all kind of caught up with us. I’m frustrated for sure. I expect a lot better around here than what we just had but we’ll go back to our conventional car that we ran here last year and just go race from here and try to get the Quartz Motor Oil car up front.”
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD, No. 30 Mi-Jack Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We qualified fourth but will start third since Josef (Newgarden) got a grid penalty. We‘re in a pretty good place. It’s good to be the best of the rest, I would say. The Penske cars have been strong all weekend; they’ve been setting the pace for sure. Being up there in the mix is good. I was looking at a 58.2 at the end there but ran wide at the exit of Turn 7 onto the back straight and kind of dipped the left side tires into the dirt and bottomed out so I lost some time there. I think the pace is the car but I didn’t quite execute. But still P3 on the grid is not a bad thing at all. We’ll go for it tomorrow.”
JACK HARVEY, 45 Hy-Vee Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was close to transferring (to Round 2) and I’ve said it all weekend. All the little things add up in Portland and I think we just missed transferring by about a tenth but it was also three positions in between us there so that was disappointing. We just didn’t quite have the speed I guess. One thing we’re ooking at now is going to Christian and the 30 car’s setup because clearly that was competitive. We’re going to try to have a good warmup and have a good race.”
RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING AT PORTLAND … Sato brought the team its second win here in 2018 in Indy car racing’s returning to PIR for the first time since the 24th consecutive race was held in 2007. The 2022 race will mark the 16th time for RLL to compete in an Indy car race here. The team competed in CART and Champ Car-sanctioned races at PIR from 1992-2003 with a best starting position of pole by Bryan Herta in 1998 and Max Papis in 2001 and best finish of first place by Max Papis in 2001 and Sato in 2018. RLL has earned a total of four podium finishes (3rd – B. Rahal 1995, Herta 1998) and has led a total of 150 laps here (1998: Herta, 20; 2001: Papis, 69; 2018: Sato: 25; 2021: G. Rahal 36). In addition, the team competed in the Toyota Atlantic races here in 2003 (Danica Patrick, Jon Fogerty) and 2004 (Patrick and Chris Festa).
NEXT UP: The Grand Prix of Portland will be televised live on NBC beginning at 3 PM ET Sunday, September 4. All times are eastern with live coverage also on Peacock Premium.