Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
QUALIFYING NOTES/QUOTES – September 9, 2023
LUNDGAARD, VIPS AND RAHAL QUALIFIED THIRD, SEVENTH AND 14TH FOR THE FIRESTONE GRAND PRIX OF MONTEREY; LUNDGAARD SET A NEW TRACK RECORD IN QUALIFYING
1) Felix Rosenqvist 1:06.6416 / 120.897 mph (Group 1, Round 3)
3) Christian Lundgaard 1:06.7478 / 120.705 mph (Group 2, Round 3)
7) Juri Vips 1:06.8300 / 120.557 mph (Group 1, Round 2; will serve a 6-grid penalty)
14) Graham Rahal 1:07.2323 / 119.835 mph (Group 1, Round 1)
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 iPacket Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “On my best lap, Sting Ray went off right in front of me in Turn 3 and brought a ton of dirt back on so you couldn’t attack the corner exit with power down. We lost just over one-tenth in that sector, which we’ve been strong in all weekend, so I’m really frustrated. Unfortunately, we got stuck behind him and that’s the way the cards fall sometimes but it certainly hurt us. I’ve had a little harder time getting rotation than my teammates this weekend. In Turn 2, the car just didn’t turn at all and lost a tenth-and-a-half (of a second) there. The combination of those two corners really killed us today. Hopefully we’ll have a good day in the iPacket machine tomorrow. It’s going to be a tough race physically for sure. It will be the hardest race of the year for sure and it’s not even hot outside. I feel like our car is strong but I just knew we would have to be flawless. This wasn’t like Portland or the Indy GP where I felt super confident. I knew that today we were on the border and unfortunately, I think Newgarden beat us by a few hundredths (of a second) and that’s the way life goes. Our (qualifying) group was absolutely stacked bottom to top. We’re going to have to battle hard tomorrow.”
JURI VIPS, 30 Mi-Jack Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I knew it was going to be easier coming into this weekend (than Portland). I didn’t race anything all year so it was going to be a steep learning curve in Portland. But I think we managed that well and I got in the car in Laguna and it was pretty comfortable. It’s just a shame to miss out (transferring to Round 3) by such a small margin. I felt like the lap was pretty good. I made one small mistake but I think what happened to us most was Grosjean backed off (ahead) and impeded my first lap. So, then I started my push lap pretty close to him. I think that’s why we missed out because all of the RLL cars have been really quick this whole weekend so far so I’m happy to at least see Christian up there. It’s super tough, it’s super physical and the grip is awesome.”
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD, No. 45 Hy-Vee Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It’s frustrating. Obviously seeing the optimal lap time afterwards being a 66.1 it hurts. It hurts right now but I’m happy for Felix to get the pole leaving McLaren for MSR next season. To finish like that is pretty cool for him. It’s tough for us. We knew we were fast all weekend and it just proved that the car has been there all weekend. I wanted to get the No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda on the pole so we could finish the season with the most poles. It just wasn’t meant to be today. I pushed too hard and I saw it on the dash on the delta that I was faster than my Q2 lap so I went for it and it didn’t work. I paid the price for it.”
RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING AT LAGUNA SECA … The 2023 Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey will mark the 16th Indy car event for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and third here since 12 consecutive races at the track from 1992-2003. The team has also competed in ALMS and IMSA races here from 2009-2021, and 2023 as BMW M Team RLL and has earned three wins, three poles and a total of 11 podium finishes to date — including pole and a second place finish in 2019. The team finished third at the May 1, 2022 race. The INDYCAR team has earned three wins, three poles and a total of six podiums (1st – Herta 1998-1999; Papis 2001; 2nd – Herta 1996; 3rd: B. Rahal 1992, Papis 1999) including three straight pole positions (Herta 1997-1999).
NEXT UP: The warm-up will take place tomorrow from 9:00-9:30 a.m. PT and NBC will begin broadcasting the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at 3 PM ET Sunday, September 10. Peacock will broadcast all sessions live. Timing and Scoring information and live streaming video is also available for all sessions from www.indycar.com and includes live commentary.