Iowa Corn Indy 250 – Iowa Speedway
IZOD IndyCar Series
RACE NOTES/QUOTES — June 23, 2013
RAHAL WAS A CONTENDER FOR THE IOWA CORN INDY 250 WIN AND FINISHED FIFTH; JAKES FINISHED 18TH
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Midas / Big O Tires Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The race was good. I didn’t quite have James’ (Hinchcliffe) speed today but we were close. And as you know, coming from where we have been over the past few weeks, this feels pretty good. But obviously I’m disappointed to not finish higher; we wanted a podium today if not better. The guys have really worked hard to get this Midas / Big O Tires car back to the front and we’re getting closer. We struggled a bit at the start of the race. On the second set (of tires) the car came on for me and felt really, really magical. That’s when we went from 10th to second. I don’t know what it was at the end of the race, we just lost a little bit of overall grip and struggled a little bit. The last couple of laps when Ed (Carpenter) got me, I just couldn’t keep the thing turning. Earlier in that stint, I was chasing Hinchcliffe down but at the end of the race I was losing a little bit of everything in the car. I’m proud of these guys because as I’ve said too many people, the last few weeks hasn’t been easy for us. I’m really proud of the engineering staff and everyone. For everybody to keep coming back week after week with their chins up means a lot to me. I felt like I could have won the race today. I don’t know how we lost a spot on that pit stop today because I thought we had a good stop, but we did and unfortunately we got behind Hunter-Reay and never really recovered. I feel like I got robbed; I should have had a podium at least today but we’ll take a fifth.”
JAMES JAKES, No. 16 Acorn Stairlifts Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was a difficult day all around. We just struggled in general from the start of the race. We will go back and analyze the data to figure out what happened. Obviously the No 15 car did a great job. We will move on and look at what was wrong and try not to repeat it again.”
NEXT UP: The series will take next weekend off and return to action on July 6-7 for the Pocono INDYCAR 400 Fueled by Sonoco at Pocono Raceway. But before the team gets some well-deserved time at home, many teams will test on Tuesday, June 25 at either Pocono Raceway or Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Rahal and Jakes will get their first laps at Pocono on Tuesday. Bobby Rahal competed there eight times between 1982-1989 and earned one win (1988), three podiums (3rd – 1982, 1984) and six top-five’s in addition to leading 131 laps.
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