Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Grand Prix of Portland
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
PRACTICE NOTES/QUOTES – September 2, 2022
RAHAL, HARVEY AND LUNDGAARD FINISHED 8TH, 12TH AND 19TH IN PRACTICE 1 FOR THE GRAND PRIX OF PORTLAND
1) Josef Newgarden 58.5769 / 120.703 mph
8) Graham Rahal 58.9896 / 119.858 mph
12) Jack Harvey 59.0656 / 119.704 mph
19) Christian Lundgaard 59.3561 / 119.118 mph
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Quartz Motor Oil Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was a solid day for us. I think the Total Quartz Motor Oil car is strong. We started with a similar setup to what we ran last year. We’ve got to tie the little bits together to go quicker now. And around here, a lot of those are going to make a big difference because of how interconnected Turns 1-2-3 are and how Turns 9-10-11 to finish the lap are all interconnected. We need to be a little better there, have a little better rotation but generally I thought our pace was decent so we’ll go to work tonight and hope to find some more.”
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD, No. 30 Mi-Jack Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It wasn’t the best of sessions for us. We seemed to struggle a bunch with the balance on the blacks (Firestone primary tires) and didn’t manage to compensate enough on the alternates, I think we over did it on the blacks and we just suffered too much on the alternates. It is what it is; that’s what practice is for. I think we learned a bit there so we’ll crack on for practice two on Saturday.”
JACK HARVEY, 45 Hy-Vee Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Practice started out fine but it was a pretty disruptive session with the TV, of all things, losing the hydraulics or something. We lost a bunch of time in that and it was just a scruffy session for everybody. I think we unloaded with a decent car, it’s not far away. There are just a few imbalances we’ve got to fix and at this track, every tenth (of a second), every half of a tenth is going to be super important. It was a good start nonetheless – one of the better starts we’ve had for a while. There is momentum there, we’ve just got to keep rolling with it and get the Hy-Vee Honda up front.”
RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING AT PORTLAND … Sato brought the team its second win here in 2018 in Indy car racing’s returning to PIR for the first time since the 24th consecutive race was held in 2007. The 2022 race will mark the 16th time for RLL to compete in an Indy car race here. The team competed in CART and Champ Car-sanctioned races at PIR from 1992-2003 with a best starting position of pole by Bryan Herta in 1998 and Max Papis in 2001 and best finish of first place by Max Papis in 2001 and Sato in 2018. RLL has earned a total of four podium finishes (3rd – B. Rahal 1995, Herta 1998) and has led a total of 150 laps here (1998: Herta, 20; 2001: Papis, 69; 2018: Sato: 25; 2021: G. Rahal 36). In addition, the team competed in the Toyota Atlantic races here in 2003 (Danica Patrick, Jon Fogerty) and 2004 (Patrick and Chris Festa).
NEXT UP: On Saturday, Practice 2 will take place from 12-1 p.m., qualifying will take place from 3:05-4:20 p.m. and the warm-up will be 7:15-7:45 p.m. All times are eastern with live coverage on Peacock Premium. The Grand Prix of Portland will be televised live on NBC beginning at 3 PM ET Sunday, September 4.