Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
Verizon IndyCar Series
QUALIFYING NOTES/QUOTES – July 28, 2018
RAHAL AND SATO WERE UNABLE TO CAPITOLIZE ON THEIR FASTER ALTERNATE TIRES WHEN HINCHCLIFFE BROUGHT OUT THE RED FLAG TO END ROUND 2 OF HONDA INDY 200 QUALIFYING; WILL START SEVENTH AND EIGHTH RESPECTIVELY
POLE: Alexander Rossi 1:04.6802 / 125.677 mph (Round 3, Group 1)
7th: Graham Rahal 1:06.1804 / 122.828 mph (Round 2, Group 2) Was P1 in Practice 3
8th: Takuma Sato 1:06.3755 / 122.467 mph (Round 2, Group 2)
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “In the second round, the balance was pretty good. Clearly I’m disappointed that it turned out the way that it did because I know that we had the speed to advance to Round 3. The Fifth Third Bank car felt really good once I got some temperature in the tires in Turns 5 and 6. I thought ‘Okay, we’ve got a good shot at this thing.’ The next thing I know, the red flag is out. I’m very frustrated. We’re just going to have to work our way to the front from seventh. A lot can happen in a short period of time so we’re going to have to work our way through it.”
TAKUMA SATO, No. 30 Mi-Jack / Panasonic Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We made some setup changes after practice for qualifying and it seemed to be working good. We were third fastest in our group, which was promising. In the next group, our strategy was interrupted by red flags. It hurt many drivers and we were one of them. It’s a shame we didn’t have the opportunity to set a time to try to advance to the top six. I think we made good progress and we are headed in the right direction though. Hopefully we have a strong car tomorrow for the Honda Indy.”
RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING AT MID-OHIO … The Honda Indy 200 will mark the 21st Indy car event for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) here. The team also competed in the Atlantic Series race in 2003 with Danica Patrick and has competed in ALMS races here in 2007 and from 2009-2012. The team has one win (G. Rahal 2015), four podiums (3rd: B. Rahal 1997, 1998; G. Rahal 2017) and the highest start is pole (Herta 1997). Another front row start came in 1999 (Herta; 2nd). Prior to the 2018 event, the team prepared a total of 30 Indy car entries for drivers Bobby Rahal (1992-98), Mike Groff (1994), Raul Boesel (1995), Bryan Herta (1996-99), Max Papis (1999-2001), Jimmy Vasser (2002), Michel Jourdain Jr. (2002-03) Ryan Hunter-Reay (2007-2008), Takuma Sato (2012), Graham Rahal (2013-2017) and James Jakes (2013). The team has earned FOUR podiums (1st – G. Rahal; 3rd – B. Rahal 1997, 1998, G. Rahal 2017), 13 top-five’s and 17 top-10 finishes at the track. The No. 15 Fifth Third Bank entry for Graham Rahal and No. 30 Mi-Jack / Panasonic entry for Takuma Sato will bring the Indy car total to 32 entries in 2018.
NEXT UP: The Honda Indy 200 will be televised live on CNBC beginning at 3:00 PM ET Sunday, July 29.
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