Rahal Will Attempt to Earn a Third Straight Podium Finish in the Honda Indy GP of Alabama From 21st Place Start

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

Verizon IndyCar Series

QUALIFYING NOTES/QUOTES — Saturday, April 22, 2017

RAHAL WILL ATTEMPT TO EARN A THIRD STRAIGHT PODIUM FINISH IN THE HONDA INDY GRAND PRIX OF ALABAMA FROM 21ST PLACE START

1)         Will Power                 1:06.9614 / 123.653 mph       (Group 2, Round 3)

21)       Graham Rahal           1:08.0499 / 121.675 mph       (Group 2, Round 1)    

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda/Firestone:  “We’re all sliding around, it’s just the level at which you are doing that.  We can’t seem to get the tire to bite the road at all.  I had nothing else for qualifying.  This morning I put in one miracle lap but couldn’t get within half of a second of it again. That’s what we have been banking on in qualifying.  It got us through once in St. Pete and got us into the Fast Six in Long Beach but we weren’t able to do that today.  We have to unload competitive right away because we don’t have a second car to split the workload and try different setups, spring rates or anything.  For us as a single car team it’s impossible to catch up over a race weekend.  We’ve always been good here, we want to win races and get the PennGrade car in Victory Lane.”

• FAST FACTS: Rahal will make his eighth start here… He played a major factor in the most exciting races of the 2015 and 2016 seasons as he challenged for the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama win the past two years but finished second both times.  Last year, Rahal started sixth and moved into fourth when Bourdais and Dixon made contact on the first lap. He stretched his fuel the farthest and cycled into the lead by the time he made his first of three pits stops and returned to the track in fourth.  He cycled into second place before his second stop on Lap 43 and returned to the track in third place and reclaimed second place on Lap 65 by passing Power.  On Lap 81, Rahal attempted to pass Pagenaud but the Frenchman made an evasive move and the two made contact sending Pagenaud off course and he returned second to Rahal.  Later the pass was deemed a racing incident. On Lap 85 of 90, Rahal was behind traffic which enabled Pagenaud to close. Sixteenth placed Hawksworth allowed Rahal to pass but the two made contact which allowed Pagenaud to take the lead. Rahal’s already compromised front wing (mechanical failure on a portion since approx. Lap 50) took a fatal blow and he struggled to hold on to second place until the checkered flag.  The 2015 race at BMP kicked off a strong run of races for Rahal that largely continued for the rest of the season. He started eighth and passed Kanaan on the opening lap. He later lost a position to Filippi but passed Dixon for 7th. He pitted and ran ninth place but moved to third as others made their stops. He held off charges from fourth place Hinchcliffe on several restarts and later built a gap on him while leading Laps 35-46. He pitted from the lead for his second stop, dropped to 15th but cycled back into the lead for Laps 65-69. He made his final stop on Lap 71 and returned to the track in sixth place, approx.. 20 seconds behind the leader. With new tires and more fuel than others, he consistently turned lap times that were one-to-two seconds quicker than those in front of him and eventually passed Power, Hunter-Reay and Castroneves before he was able to close the gap on second-place Dixon in the closing laps. With less than two laps to go, he passed Dixon but ran out of time to catch eventual race winner Newgarden and finished second.  In 2014, Rahal started 18th on a wet track, ran as high as 10th, dropped four places after being hit by two cars and ultimately finished 17th.  In 2013, Rahal set a lap time fast enough to progress to Round 2 and qualify in the top-12 if he had been in Group 2 but he was in Group 1 and ultimately qualified 21st.  He had to pit for a new nose on the opening lap after the field checked up and he hit Servia. He moved up to 12th place but ran out of fuel on the final lap due to a malfunction in the fueling system and dropped to 21st.  He started 8th, led one lap and finished fourth here in 2012 for Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing (SCCGR). He started 10th and finished 18th in 2011 for SCCGR and started 15th and finished 17th for Sarah Fisher Racing in 2010.

RLL AT BARBER: The 2017 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama will mark the sixth IndyCar Series race for the team at Barber Motorsports Park (BMP). The past two years, RLLR and Rahal played a major role in exciting races and earned the top finish for the team of second place each year (more details above). In 2014, Rahal finished 17th after running as high as 10th but was hit by two cars.  Servia started 19th, ran as high as 14th and finished 20th.  In 2013, Rahal set a lap time fast enough to progress to Round 2 and qualify in the top-12 if he had been in Group 2 but he was in Group 1 and ultimately qualified 21st.  He had to pit for a new nose on the opening lap after the field checked up and he hit Oriol Servia. He moved up to 12th place but ran out of fuel on the final lap due to a malfunction in the fueling system and dropped to 21st.  James Jakes qualified 11th in 2013 but had to pit early in the race when the camber shims fell out of the left rear upright which put him two laps down to the leader. He soldiered on through fueling issues, set the fastest lap of the race and finished 23rd.  In 2012, Takuma Sato set the third fastest time in Friday’s first practice for the team and was fastest in the wet second session but traffic limited his qualifying performance to 16th.  In the race he passed four cars for 12th place on red alternate tires but struggled on primary tires and ultimately retired in 24th place due to mechanical failure after 52/90 laps.

NEXT UP: Warmup will take place tomorrow from 9:45 – 10:15 a.m. CT and the 90 lap Honda Grand Prix of Alabama will be televised live on NBCSN from 3:00-6:00 PM ET Sunday, April 23. 

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