Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
QUALIFYING NOTES/QUOTES – Saturday, April 24, 2021
RAHAL QUALIFIED NINTH FOR THE FIRESTONE GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG AND TAKUMA SATO QUALIFIED 15TH
1) Colton Herta 1:00.3210 / 107.425 mph (Group 1, Round 3)
9) Graham Rahal 1:00.5678 / 106.988 mph (Group 2, Round 2)
15) Takuma Sato 1:00.9167 / 106.375 mph (Group 1, Round 1)
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 United Rentals Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Starting ninth is not bad, but honestly we had a car to advance. We were actually up on Colton’s time in Q2 until Turn 9. We lost 3/10ths (of a second) in Turn 9 and that took us from being P1 to 9th. It’s a shame. I’m actually pretty frustrated because I know that the car had it so it’s disappointing to not be able to maximize that. I just got a lot of understeer. I kind of got held up early in Q2 which didn’t let me get the tire temperatures up. I think the tires were 20 degrees cooler in that lap in Q2 than my Q1 reds and I just couldn’t quite get the temp in. That’s part of the game. We will live to fight tomorrow. Hopefully we can a little better race, but obviously the car is extremely competitive and we are happy with where the United Rentals machine is right now.”
TAKUMA SATO, No. 30 Panasonic / Shield Cleansers Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Qualifying was a bit frustrating. We just needed two more tenths (of a second) to move up to the second segment. We did everything we tried, we just need a little bit more speed. We have one more session tomorrow morning – the warm up – and hopefully we can have a bit more progress. It was a difficult qualifying today. The race will be another story. It’s going to be a tough one but I think where we are (starting), we are a little bit more open for strategy and we will see. We need to move up.”
NEXT UP: The morning warmup will take place tomorrow from 9:05-9:35 a.m. ET. The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will be televised live on NBC beginning at 12 noon ET Sunday, April 25.