Rahal Letterman Lanigan RacingHonda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course – Race 1
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
RACE NOTES/QUOTES – September 12, 2020RAHAL CHALLENGED FOR A PODIUM SPOT AND FINISHED FOURTH IN RACE 1 OF THE HONDA INDY 200 AT MID-OHIO; SATO FINISHED 17THGRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 United Rentals Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was super-hot. It’s a good thing it wasn’t a 90-degree July day. I’m awfully proud of the United Rentals guys. I thought our strategy was great and the car was very good in race trim. I think we were a little quicker than Newgarden and Rossi but I got held up by Pagenaud there coming out of the pits on that last stop or otherwise I think we had him (Rossi). I thought we had a good opportunity there to get Alex but all in all it was a great run for us. It feels good to get a good result after St. Louis which was kind of a bruiser. Our guys did a wonderful job in the pits. The last few races, they’ve been lightning fast. We’ve just got to keep at it. It was a tough day. Tomorrow is going to be tougher. Guys are going to fall out of the saddle tomorrow. That is physical. It is hot, there’s not a lot of air, ad it was dirty. Tomorrow will be a bruiser. We switch over to the Fifth Third Bank car so we’re excited about that switch over. And we raised a lot of money for Turns for Troops today so all in all a good day.”
TAKUMA SATO, No. 30 Mi-Jack / Panasonic Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was a tough race and a lot of hard work but didn’t really reflect on the result which is a shame. There was actually no drama; it was a caution-free race. Strategy wise we tried to gain back the positions but were just not quite there. We need to work on it for tomorrow. It was hot, we sweat and lost a lot of pounds and weight. We will have a good recovery tonight and hopefully be okay for tomorrow.”
RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING AT MID-OHIO… Race 2 of the 2020 Honda Indy 200 will mark the 24th Indy car event for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) at Mid-Ohio Sports Car course, near the team’s Hilliard, Ohio shop. The team also competed in the Atlantic Series race in 2003 with Danica Patrick and has competed in ALMS races here in 2007 and from 2009-2012 and IMSA races since 2018. The team has earned four podiums (1st – G. Rahal 2015; 3rd – B. Rahal 1997, 1998, G. Rahal 2017), 14 top-five’s and 20 top-10 finishes at the track and the highest start is pole (Herta 1997). Another front row start came in 1999 (Herta; 2nd).NEXT UP: Qualifying for Race 2 will take place from 10:15-10:45 a.m. ET Sunday. Live coverage of the race will begin on NBC at 1 p.m. ET. Timing and Scoring information is available for all sessions from www.indycar.com and includes commentary by the INDYCAR Radio Network.