Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Pre-Race Notes
Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix – Barber Motorsports Park, Leeds, Alabama
Round 4 of 17 in the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES
DATE: Friday – Sunday, April 28 – 30, 2023
PRACTICE BROADCAST: Live on Peacock Premium on Friday from 3:40 – 4:55 p.m. ET, Saturday from 12 – 1 p.m. ET and Sunday from 12:00 – 12:30 p.m. ET. Also live on the INDYCAR Radio Network (IRN) and www.indycar.com (timing & scoring + live analysis).
QUALIFYING BROADCAST: Live on Peacock Premium, the IRN and www.indycar.com (timing & scoring + live analysis) from 3:00 – 4:15 p.m. ET Saturday.
RACE BROADCAST: Live on NBC on Sunday, April 30 from 3 – 6 p.m. ET. And also on Peacock Premium, IRN and Sirius XM NBC Sports Audio 85.
TRACK LAYOUT: 2.38-mile, 17-turn road course
RACE LENGTH: 90 laps / 207 miles
2022 WINNER: Pato O’Ward
2022 POLESITTER: Rinus Veekay (124.980 mph)
RLL TOP START / FINISH AT BARBER: 1st by Sato in 2019 / 1st by Sato in 2019; 10 events
RAHAL’S BEST START / FINISH AT BARBER: 2nd in 2019 / 2nd in 2015 and 2016 – Both with RLL; will be his 13th race here
RAHAL’S HIGHEST SERIES START / FINISH: 3 poles – Pole at St. Pete (street) 2009, Kansas (oval) 2009, Detroit Race 1 (street) 2017 / 6 wins – 1st in St. Pete in 2008, Fontana & Mid-Ohio 2015, Texas 2016, Detroit Race 1 & Race 2 2017
HARVEY’S BEST START / FINISH AT BARBER: 11th / 11th – both in 2021; will be his 4th INDYCAR race here and 8th overall
HARVEY’S HIGHEST SERIES START / FINISH: 2nd – Indy GP & Road America (2020), St. Pete 2021 / 3rd at the Indy GP (2019)
LUNDGAARD’S BEST START / FINISH AT BARBER: 14th / 15th – both in 2022; will be his second race here
LUNDGAARD’S BEST SERIES START / FINISH: 3rd at Nashville & Portland 2022 / 2nd at the July Indy GP 2022
NEWS & NOTES:
RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING AT BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK
The 2023 Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix (CAIGP) will mark the 11th INDYCAR SERIES race for the team at Barber Motorsports Park (BMP). The 2020 event was cancelled due to COVID-19 so the team had to wait another year to defend their 2019 victory from pole by Takuma Sato. Rahal qualified second to Sato in 2019 to bring the team their first 1-2 start since the September 11, 2005 Chicagoland race where Danica Patrick and Buddy Rice accomplished the feat. For 2023, RLL has entered the No. 15 One Cure Honda for Graham Rahal, the No. 30 AMADA Honda for Jack Harvey and the No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda for Christian Lundgaard which brings the total to 20 entries for RLL for this event.
GRAHAM AT BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK
Rahal’s best start at BMP is second in 2019 and his best finish is second, two times (2015-2016) in his previous 12 races here. Last year, he started ninth and ran seventh in the final laps of the race while attempting to pass McLaughlin for sixth but he ultimately had three seconds of overtake to McLaughlin’s 79. He was alongside him multiple times but unable to complete the pass. After that, he was holding off Grosjean, who made contact with him two times while attempting to pass to no avail but Rahal had to “clutch and coast” to stretch his fuel on the final lap and Grosjean took over seventh while Rahal finished eighth. In 2021, Rahal started 18th, avoided a multi car crash started by Newgarden on the opening lap and had good pace to finish in seventh place. In 2019, he comfortably held his best starting position of second place to his teammate Sato after the start and proceeded to build a two-second gap over third place Dixon while approaching his first pit stop. He reported an issue with his throttle position sensor that led to a stuck throttle and pit to address it on Lap 18 after having battled it intermittently since the third lap. The team reset the car and changed the throttle position sensor and he returned to the track in 16th place. He cycled into 12th by the time he made his second stop on Lap 34 and then returned on track in 19th. He was in 11th place on Lap 56 when he reported that the car turned off and he stopped on track and brought out a caution to end his race. A race-by-race description of previous years, including his two, second-place finishes, is available upon request. Graham is looking forward to some southern hospitality this weekend.
“I’m looking forward to going to Barber. We’ve always had a good run there with One Cure. We need to get a little more speed out of the car from where we were last year but we had a good test there and I feel positive about some of the improvements we’ve made and some of the gains that are there to be had. Fingers crossed we’ll go there and be competitive with all three cars and be able to run up front. It’s a race where there is a lot of tire degradation – it’s wacky in that regard and very physical as well. I hope that that allows us to rise to the top and be super competitive in the race as well with the tire degradation. I always enjoy going there, always enjoy racing there. It is a different vibe and a different feel than most anywhere else we race. The southern hospitality is always awesome and we’re looking forward to being back.”
JACK HARVEY AIMS TO CONTINUE THE MOMENTUM OF TOP-10 POTENTIAL
The Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix of Alabama will mark Harvey’s fourth INDYCAR race at the track and eighth overall. He competed in Indy car races here in 2019, 2021 and 2022 with a best start and finish of 11th in 2021. He also competed in two doubleheader Indy Lights events here in 2014 and 2015 where he started second twice and earned three podiums in four races with his top finish being second place in Race 1 and 2 in 2015. The event marks the first road course race of the season and Harvey is looking forward to it.
“Barber is just a fantastic road course. It’s a beautiful setting. They look after the track to keep it immaculate year round. It’s got a nice balance of some low-speed corners, some high-speed corners and it has a lot of elevation change. I’m pretty optimistic about what our road course car is going to be, performance wise. We didn’t get the result we wanted at St. Pete (street course) but the potential was there. That looked like it was going to be a top-10 day and I really felt like minus that little bobble we had in pit lane in Long Beach, we could have been in the top-10 there too. So, starting the first three races with two potential top-10’s feels like there is some good momentum with us. We’re building it and just want to keep it going. It would be nice to be on pole and try to win in Barber but as long as we keep that momentum going for as long as we can, we will get there. There is a nice atmosphere with everyone at RLL about where we are going and everyone seems along for the hard work and the journey ahead of us. I feel like Barber is a great first road course for us this season and I’m excited to get back on one.”
LUNDGAARD RETURNS TO THE SITE OF HIS FIRST INDY CAR EXPERIENCE
Christian’s first time in an Indy car occurred at BMP during a test on July 26, 2021 and he fondly remembers the experience. He also had a strong test here on March 13. Last year, he started 14th and ran as high as ninth before his first stop, which was delayed by David Malukas entering the pit ahead of him as he needed to depart which dropped him many positions and he ultimately finished 15th.
“Barber was the first ever track I drove on in an Indy car so I’m always super excited to get back there. I think our test there earlier this season went pretty well. We found some positive changes on the car, so we’ve just got to execute with that on the race weekend. It’s one of the faster and more physical tracks and it’s a long race as well. We weren’t that lucky there last year with being held up in the pits as we were exiting our box. And as team, we struggled a bit earlier in the season so we hope to make up for that this year and get the Hy-Vee car up front.”
POINT STANDINGS AFTER 3 OF 17 RACES
Rahal is ranked 13th in series point standings with a total of 52. Lundgaard is 14th with 49 and Harvey is 19th with 37.