Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
INDYCAR Grand Prix – Indianapolis Motor Speedway
NTT IndyCar Series
QUALIFYING NOTES/QUOTES – May 10, 2019
RAHAL EARNED HIS BEST START OF SEVENTH PLACE FOR THE INDYCAR GRAND PRIX AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY; SATO MATCHED HIS BEST START OF 11TH
1) Felix Rosenqvist 1:08.2785 / 128.597 mph (Group 1, Round 3)
7) Graham Rahal 1:08.2153 / 128.716 mph (Group 2, Round 2)
11) Takuma Sato 1:08.3300 / 128.500 mph (Group 1, Round 2)
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Mi-Jack Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Everybody on this team just did an amazing job coming up with the set up for qualifying here. We were nervous to go to Takuma’s set up a little. Takuma can just drive a car that’s a lot looser than I’m willing to tolerate. So, we were a little nervous to go that far, but we came up with it. It was a complete flyer honestly from where we were in the second practice but it worked and I think we were a lot more competitive. If you find one tenth, you’re second or third so it’s close. We came up just a little bit shy there, but it was a tremendous job by everybody and, you know, we can race from there. What you want (from your car) to qualify and what you want to race are different, at least in my book. We’ll detune her for tomorrow and hopefully she’ll be a little better.”
TAKUMA SATO, No. 30 Mi-Jack / Panasonic Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We didn’t have a strong day at the test day here so we came here with different concept and we’re working through it. It seems that we we’re looking at quite good speed for qualifying, but unfortunately on the second segment I had some traffic and couldn’t get heat in the tires. I just had one shot, it was the last lap and unfortunately I didn’t get the grip I wanted, so it’s disappointing being 11th after a competitive first segment but I think tomorrow it’s a track we can overtake so I’ll stay optimistic.”
RLL AT INDY ROAD COURSE…. The INDYCAR Grand Prix will mark the sixth NTT IndyCar Series race on the 2.439-mile road course. The team’s best finish here is second in 2015 by Rahal and best start is seventh in 2019, also by Rahal.
NEXT UP: The pre-race warm-up will take place tomorrow from 11:15-11:45 a.m. ET and NBC will begin their broadcast of the INDYCAR Grand Prix beginning at 3:30 PM ET.