Rahal, Fittipaldi & Lundgaard Set the 11th, 17th and 19th Fastest Times in the Lone Practice for the Hy-Vee INDYCAR Weekend at Iowa Speedway

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Hy-Vee Homefront 250 Presented by Instacart

Hy-Vee One Step 250 Presented by Gatorade

Iowa Speedway

NTT INDYCAR SERIES

PRACTICE NOTES / QUOTES – Friday, July 12, 2024

RAHAL, FITTIPALDI AND LUNDGAARD SET THE 11TH, 17TH AND 19TH FASTEST TIMES IN THE LONE PRACTICE FOR THE HY-VEE INDYCAR WEEKEND AT IOWA SPEEDWAY

1st: Scott McLaughlin 00:17.3134 / 185.891 mph

11th: Graham Rahal 00:17.6083 / 182.777 mph

17th: Pietro Fittipaldi 00:17.7928 / 180.882 mph

19th: Christian Lundgaard 00:17.8666 / 180.135 mph

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 One Cure Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We finished in P11 in the only practice but on our new tire simulation, there was nothing but traffic, so I think we’ve got a little bit more speed in it than that. The Once Cure race car feels good too, we’ve just got to get that second lane rolling. That second lane is going to be really important. Obviously the 30-minute practice it (high line) came in but then we went to the 90 minutes of practice after that and everybody just stayed to the bottom. We needed them to sweep (the marbles) and that didn’t happen so tomorrow, we’re just going to have to get it working right away and go straight to the high line in the race. I think a lot of guys will run it, and I think when they do, it will keep it clean. It should be a good race but I’ll tell you what, the downforce levels is pretty low. They did a good job with the tire to come back with a harder tire but we certainly need a little bit more grip to run around the high side. Let’s see how it goes.”

FAST FACTS: The 2024 Hy-Vee INDYCAR Weekend doubleheader will mark Graham Rahal’s 19th and 20th races here. He has earned 11 top-10 finishes in 18 starts with his best being fourth in 2015. Last year, he qualified 13th for Race 1 but struggled with the handling of the race car and brought out the only caution of the 250-lap race on Lap 152 when he lost control of his race car in Turn 4 and made contact with the wall. He retired in 28th place. In Race 2, he qualified sixth and dropped back in the field while trying to dial in his race car on stops. The team elected to gamble and undercut the field by stopping a little earlier which was working out until a caution came out for Canapino and he ultimately finished in 20th place. In 2022, in Race 1 he started 16th, fell to the back of the field early on and worked his way back up to a ninth-place finish. In Race 2, he started 23rd, fell to the back in 26th and then worked his way back up to 13th in the closing stage of the race but was passed by Palou with six laps to go and took the checkered flag in 14th. In 2020, he started from 21st place and stayed on the lead lap until Lap 23 of 250. The team was on a four-stop strategy and the handling appeared to improve mid-to-late race but he reported a vibration and struggled with the handling of the car, so he made another stop from 10th place on Lap 227 and ultimately finished 12th. In Race 2, in the Hy-Vee Honda, he set the eighth fastest time in the pre-race practice and started from 19th place. He extended his stint the longest and made his first stop from the lead on Lap 63. Due to track position, he went a lap down but was able to get it back by Lap 84 before he made his second stop from the lead on Lap 119 under caution for Carpenter once the pits opened. He returned to the track in fourth place and closed on third place Power before passing him on Lap 129 for third. He cycled back into the lead on Laps 171-174 before his third stop on Lap 175 and had moved into sixth a few laps later when Hunter-Reay brought out a caution. After the pits opened, a few drivers made stops and he restarted in fourth place. Once third place Daly made his stop, Rahal moved into third on Lap 216 and held it until the checkered flag. After setting the fourth fastest time in the test in Iowa on June 27, Rahal is optimistic about the team’s performance heading into the race weekend although the aero specs have been changed by the series since then. Has SIX IndyCar Series wins (2008 – St. Pete street course; 2015 – Fontana Super Speedway, Mid-Ohio road course; 2016 – Texas Super Speedway; 2017 Detroit Race 1, Detroit Race 2) and FIVE poles (2009 – St. Pete street course, Kansas oval; 2017 – Detroit Race 1 street; IMS (road) 2023 August, Portland (road) 2023) and his highest series season-ending standing is fourth place in 2015… He has a total of 139 points and is ranked 16th overall.

PIETRO FITTIPALDI, 30 Luther Automotive Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It’s very different now with the lower downforce compared to how it was at the test, so it took a little adapting and changing the setup. Running in traffic was very difficult; I think it’s going to be difficult to overtake. We’ll see how the tire degradation is in the race. Now I will focus on working with the engineers and optimizing the car for qualifying and tomorrow night’s race.”

FAST FACTS: It will be his first (and second) time to race at Iowa Speedway this weekend. He had a good test at the track in June… He is 20th in series standings with 103 points.

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD, No. 45 Hy-Vee Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I think practice was alright. We were still messing with some balance changes in the beginning of the session and we went to a relatively alright point but I do think that with all of the cars out there it is very difficult to get a free spot (on track; to check the balance) and then you put a set of tires on and people are backing up and, yeah, I think we did see some yellows because of that as well. Overall, I think it was a pretty good session for the 45 Hy-Vee Honda team. I think we have a little bit we need to figure out. The car seems to be very reactive to the seams and there was a tail wind in Turn 3 which I think caught Marcus out and I seemed to struggle a lot just trusting the car in entry to there. I think there’s more to come.”

FAST FACTS: This will mark Christian’s fifth and sixth races at Iowa Speedway. In 2023, he started off the weekend right be winning the first Hy-Vee Pit Stop Challenge on Friday night. For Race 1 he qualified and finished 20th. In Race 2, he qualified 21st and finished 13th. In 2022, he qualified 20th for Race 1 and drove to his highest career oval finish to date of 10th place. In Race 2, he qualified 17th and was running 15th when he pit due to brake issues after completing 112 of 300 laps. The team was unable to repair the car in time to return to the race and he retired in 26th place. After running well during a test at Iowa Speedway on June 21, he is optimistic of being able to have a competitive run in the doubleheader races… He is 11th in series standings with 182.

RLL AT IOWA: The 2024 Hy-Vee INDYCAR Weekend will mark the 17th and 18th events for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) at Iowa Speedway. The best finish for the team is third place (2020 Race 2 by G. Rahal, 2018 by Sato and 2007 by Scott Sharp). Sharp also earned the top start for the team of fourth in 2007.

NEXT UP: Qualifying for both races will take place from 2:45-3:45 PM CT. The Hy-Vee Homefront 250 Presented by Instacart will be televised on NBC beginning at 7 pm ET on Saturday, July 23. Timing and Scoring information is available for all sessions from www.indycar.com and includes commentary by the INDYCAR Radio Network.