Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
104th Running of the Indianapolis 500
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
QUALIFYING NOTES/QUOTES – August 15, 2020
RAHAL AND SATO SET TOP-NINE TIMES TO MAKE IT TO SUNDAY’S FAST NINE SHOOTOUT: PIGOT QUALIFIED 12TH FOR THE 104TH INDIANAPOLIS 500
1st: Marco Andretti 4-lap avg. speed of 231.351 mph (L1: 232.177, L2: 231.559, L3: 230.968, L4: 230.705)
8th: Graham Rahal 4-lap avg. speed of 230.822 mph (L1: 231.102, L2: 230.876, L3: 230.740, L4: 230.572)
9th: Takuma Sato 4-lap avg. speed of 230.792 mph (L1: 231.244, L2: 230.763, L3: 230.710, L4: 230.454)
12th: Spencer Pigot 4-lap avg. speed of 230.539 mph (L1: 231.325, L2: 230.850, L3: 230.261, L4: 229.727)
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 United Rentals Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I must say that I’m proud of our United Rentals team. Yes, we got an early draw. Yes, that was an advantage but at the same time, we did take advantage of it and we did make it work. We had a very consistent four-lap run today to start our day off and we made it to the Fast Nine tomorrow. The good thing is, we get to be in the Fast Nine. The nerve-racking thing is that we’re in the Fast Nine and we’ve got to do this again. Hopefully, we will have a good day tomorrow, but to have a top-three row start for the Indy 500, we’ll take it. We can race from there. We’ve definitely started a lot worse in recent years so we’ll take it.”
TAKUMA SATO, No. 30 Panasonic / PeopleReady Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The car was extremely fast. I’m very happy for the job that the Rahal Letterman Lanigan team did. We drew a really lucky position for qualifying order. First for Graham and second for myself and Spencer seventh and we basically made the most of it with a top-nine for Graham and I. Unfortunately, Spencer missed only by a small amount but he was very competitive. All three cars are on a small pack which was a great job by the team. For myself, I was on the bubble and was a little bit nervous the last two hours. The team did a great job and I was happy with the result. Tomorrow, if we can maybe jump up one row, it would be a bonus. But if not, I think we have confidence for the race car.”
SPENCER PIGOT, No. 45 Hy-Vee / Embrace Pittsburgh Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Overall it was not a bad day. We had a solid run this morning that maybe could have been a little bit quicker to help us get in the Fast Nine. But at the end of the day, starting twelfth with three cars in the top-12 is a really good showing for the whole team. We can definitely race from there. It’s not a bad spot to be. Overall, I’m happy with the Hy-Vee car and we will get back on track tomorrow to work on our race setup. Thanks to everyone at RLL and it was a good debut at the Indy 500 for Citrone/Buhl Autosport.”
NEXT UP: Practice for the Fast Nine Shootout will take place from 11-11:30 a.m. ET with qualifying to set the top nine positions to take place from 1:15-2:15 p.m. A final practice for the full field will be 3:30-6:00 p.m. NBC Gold will provide coverage from 11-11:30, 1-3 and 3:30-6:00. NBC will air coverage from 1-3 p.m. Get a behind-the-scenes look at preparations for the 104th Indianapolis 500 via the six Digital Ally Garage Cameras on www.rahal-staging.ktnlcqy7-liquidwebsites.com.