Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Grand Prix of Sonoma – Sonoma Raceway
Verizon IndyCar Series
PRACTICE NOTES/QUOTES – Friday, September 14, 2018
RAHAL AND SATO SET THE NINTH AND 17TH FASTEST TIMES OVERALL IN PRACTICE FOR THE INDYCAR GRAND PRIX OF SONOMA SEASON FINALE
1) Ryan Hunter-Reay 1:17.5742 / 110.681 mph (Practice 1)
9) Graham Rahal 1:18.1665 / 109.842 mph (Practice 1)
17) Takuma Sato 1:18.6790 / 109.127 mph (Practice 2)
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Total Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Practice was okay. We are struggling a little bit and need to find a little more speed. On the reds (alternate tires), it seemed to take too long for them to come in. By the time they did, they were probably gone by that point. We will keep working on it. I don’t think by any means we have our finger quite on the pulse just yet but we’re certainly not giving up. We’ll see what we come up with for tomorrow.”
TAKUMA SATO, No. 30 Mi-Jack / Panasonic Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I think we made some progress today. The first practice ended with mixed feelings. It was supposed to be better but the car didn’t really feel happy and the lap time also was not great. For the afternoon session, we made some changes which was a definite improvement. We had a relatively good performance on the black (primary) tires but on the reds (alternate) we need to work hard to find a better balance. But at least we found some direction which is quite encouraging.”
RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING AT SONOMA … The 2018 Grand Prix of Sonoma race will mark the 11th Indy car event for RLL here. The highest start for the team here is fifth by Graham Rahal in 2016 and the highest finish is second place by Buddy Rice in 2005 and Graham Rahal in 2016. Prior to the 2018 event, the team prepared a total of 17 Indy car entries for drivers Buddy Rice (2005-2006), Vitor Meira (2005), Danica Patrick (2005-2006), Jeff Simmons (2006), Scott Sharp (2007), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2007-2008), Takuma Sato (2012), James Jakes (2013), Zach Claman De Melo (2017) and Graham Rahal (2013-2017). The team has earned two podiums (2nd – Rice 2005, Rahal 2015), two top-five’s and six top-10 finishes at the track.
NEXT UP: Practice 3 will take place tomorrow from 11:00-11:45 a.m. PT and qualifying will begin at 3. NBCSN will air qualifying on a tape-delayed basis at 8 p.m. ET. Timing and Scoring information and live streaming video is available for all sessions not televised from www.indycar.com and includes live commentary by the INDYCAR Radio Network. The Grand Prix of Sonoma will be televised live on NBCSN beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET Sunday, September 16.
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