NTT INDYCAR SERIES
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Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Pre-Race Notes
BitNile.com Grand Prix of Portland – Portland International Raceway
Round 16 of 17 in the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES
PRACTICE BROADCAST: Live on Peacock Premium on Friday from 6:00 – 7:15 p.m. ET, Saturday from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. ET and 8:15 – 8:45 p.m. ET. Also live on the INDYCAR Radio Network (IRN) and www.indycar.com (timing & scoring + live analysis).
QUALIFYING BROADCAST: Live on Peacock Premium, the IRN and www.indycar.com (timing & scoring + live analysis) from 3:30 – 5:00 p.m. ET Saturday.
RACE BROADCAST: Live on NBC Sunday, September 4 from 3:00 – 6:00 p.m. ET. And also on Peacock Premium, IRN and Sirius XM 160.
TRACK LAYOUT: 1.964-mile, 12-turn permanent road course
RACE LENGTH: 110 laps / 216.04 miles
2022 WINNER: Scott McLaughlin
2022 POLESITTER: Scott McLaughlin (58.2349 / 121.412 mph)
RAHAL’S BEST PORTLAND START / FINISH: 5th in 2021 / 5th in 2022; will be his 6th Indy car race here & 8th overall
RAHAL’S HIGHEST SERIES START / FINISH: 4 Poles – St. Pete (street) 2009, Kansas (oval) 2009, Detroit (street) 2017, IMS (road)
2023 / 6 Wins – St. Pete 2008, Fontana (oval; 500 miles) 2015, Mid-Ohio (road) 2015, Texas (oval) 2016; Detroit Race 1 2017, Detroit Race 2 2017
VIPS’S BEST START / FINISH AT PORTLAND: Event and series debut
LUNDGAARD’S BEST START / FINISH AT PORTLAND: 4th / 21st – both in 2022; will be his 2nd race here
LUNDGAARD’S BEST SERIES START / FINISH: 2 poles – IMS (road) May 2023, Toronto (street) 2023 / 1 Win – Toronto 2023
RLL’S BEST START / FINISH AT PORTLAND: 1st – Bryan Herta (1998) & Max Papis (2001) / 1st – Papis (2001) & Takuma Sato (2018); 17th race here
NEWS & NOTES:
TWO WINS AND THREE PODIUMS FOR RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING AT PORTLAND
The 2023 event will mark the 17th time for Rahal Letterman Lanigan (RLL) Racing to compete in an Indy car race here. The team competed in CART and Champ Car-sanctioned races here from 1992-2003 with a best starting position of pole by Bryan Herta in 1998 and Max Papis in 2001 and best finish of first place in 2018 by Takuma Sato and in 2001 by Max Papis. RLL has earned a total of four podium finishes here (3rd – B. Rahal 1995, Herta 1998) and has led a total of 151 laps (1998: Herta, 20; 2001 Papis, 69; 2018: Sato, 25; 2021: Rahal, 36). In addition, the team competed in the Toyota Atlantic races here in 2003 (Danica Patrick, Jon Fogerty) and 2004 (Patrick and Chris Festa).
Prior to 2023, the team prepared a total of 32 Indy car entries for drivers such as Bobby Rahal (1992-1998), Mike Groff (1993-94), Raul Boesel (1995), Bryan Herta (1996-99), Max Papis (1999-2001), Kenny Brack (2000-01), Jimmy Vasser (2002), Michel Jourdain (2002-2003), Graham Rahal (2018-19, 21-22), Takuma Sato (2018-19, 21), Oliver Askew (2021), Christian Lundgaard (2022) and Jack Harvey (2022). The No. 15 PeopleReady Honda entry for Graham Rahal, the No. 30 Kustom Entertainment Honda entry for Juri Vips and the No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda entry for Christian Lundgaard will bring that total to 38 in 2023.
GRAHAM IN PORTLAND
It will be the eighth overall race for Graham at PIR and sixth in the main event. In 2022, Rahal started 11th and finished fifth. He passed Newgarden for 10th on Lap 4 and held the position until the pit cycle started and moved up to the lead by Lap 22 before his first stop on Lap 23. He returned to run eighth and took over seventh when Ericsson was the last driver to pit on Lap 32. He passed Palou on Lap 43 for sixth and climbed into the lead by Lap 49 on the next pit cycle before making his second stop on Lap 50. Once everything shook out, he was running sixth and claimed fifth when teammate Lundgaard pit on Lap 78. He made his final stop on Lap 70 and ran seventh. He took over sixth place after a restart from contact between Johnson and Veekay and passed Newgarden again on Lap 91/110 for fifth place. For the final stretch, he attempted to pass O’Ward, whom he closed on to run -0.363 on the second to final lap but was unable to pass him and finished fifth. In 2021, he earned his best start of the season at Portland with fifth place. He led two times for a total of 36 laps, which was the most for all drivers but the timing of a caution negated his pit strategy and he finished 10th. After starting fifth, he moved to second place on the opening lap and avoided damage from contact that involved multiple cars. He took over the lead on Lap 29 when leader O’Ward pit for fuel and tires and held it until his first stop on Lap 35/110. He came back on track ahead of O’Ward by staying out longer and undercutting him. He reclaimed the lead on Lap 44 and was 2.6-second ahead of O’Ward. A caution on Lap 51 for Kellett, who stopped in Turn 1 and Ilott, who stopped in Turn 7, came out. This forced the team to adopt the same two-stop strategy that those who were involved in the opening lap contact and topped off were on, so he had to save fuel and ultimately finished 10th. In 2019, he started 15th and misjudged the braking point into the first turn on the opening lap which resulted in a multi-car crash. His race car was placed outside the track and the team could not attempt to repair it and he retired in 23rd place. In 2018, he started 10th and had gotten through Turns 1 and 2, which was expected to be action-packed at the start, and after getting through Turn 2, Veach squeezed Hinchcliffe and the two made contact which set off a multi-car crash that collected Hinchcliffe, Marco Andretti, Rahal, points-leader Dixon and his then teammate Ed Jones. Rahal’s car was too damaged to continue so it was towed back to the paddock and after more than one hour he returned to the track to complete a handful of laps to collect two championship points, which was the maximum possible. This move helped him at season’s end. Prior to that, he competed in the 2007 Champ Car World Series race where he started eighth and finished ninth in his rookie season for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing. He started from pole in the Atlantic’s race here in 2006 but was hit by Simon Pagenaud on Lap 1 and finished 27th. In 2005, he earned his first professional win at PIR in the Star Mazda race after starting fourth and winning by a margin of 0.0317 seconds. He’s looking forward to another chance to conquer the track in an Indy car.
“Hopefully the setup that we’ve been working on with the road course package will translate well. I feel like we’ve proved it so far. Last year at Portland we were competitive. Hopefully this time around we can qualify a little farther forward and give ourselves a little better shot on Sunday and get the PeopleReady Honda on the top spot of the podium.”
JURI VIPS TO MAKE HIS INDYCAR SERIES DEBUT AT PORTLAND
Vips, 23, is a three-time Formula 2 race winner and a part of the Red Bull Junior Team between 2018-2022, where he also served as a Formula One test and reserve driver from 2020-22. He drove an Indy car for the first time on October 12, 2022 at Sebring International Raceway in a test for the team and again at Barber Motorsports Park on March 13, 2023 and will make his INDYCAR SERIES debut at Portland. He has also performed static simulator testing for the team during the season. His most recent win came at the F2 sprint race in Monza on September 10, 2022 and his most recent race overall took place at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi on November 20, 2022. He is looking forward to returning to competition.
“I’m super happy to get the opportunity with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and very thankful to Bobby, Mike and everyone at the team. I haven’t been driving all year so the anticipation for this opportunity has been immense but I’m really looking forward to starting again. I feel ready for these races (Portland and Laguna Seca), I think the tracks suit my experience and driving style and the car as well.
(On preparation for a new track) “There is not much you can do other than simulation and look at data so that’s what I’ve been doing. I’ve been making sure that I will be as ready as I can to race. Obviously, I’ve only done two test days in the last 10 months so I haven’t done a lot of driving so that is definitely going to limit me but I’m doing absolutely everything I can to get as good of a result as possible.
(On familiar faces in INDYCAR) “Marcus Armstrong was my teammate twice actually — in 2017 and in 2022. He’s a good guy that I know really well. And I also raced against Christian (Lundgaard) in 2019 and 2021, Alex Palou in 2018 and a few races with Callum Ilott in 2020. I look forward to racing them again.”
LUNDGAARD IN PORTLAND
Christian will make his second start at the track after running in podium contention in his maiden race here. Last year, he qualified fourth but started third due to Newgarden, who set the second fastest time, having to serve a six-spot grid penalty. He passed Power on the opening lap and held second place until leader McLaughlin made his first stop on Lap 21/110. He pit from the lead on Lap 22 but the fueler had an issue with slower than usual fuel flow. He made his second stop on Lap 47 and settled into fifth place behind McLaughlin, Power, O’Ward and Newgarden. When he pit from fifth place for his third and final stop on Lap 78, he stalled in his pit and lost a few positions. He was running eighth on Lap 94 when he attempted to pass Rossi and went off course in Turn 2. He collected a foam banner that stuck to the front of his race car and he had to pit to have it removed and returned to the track in 21st place, where he ultimately finished. He is hoping to maximize what he feels was one of the best road course cars on the grid these next two races.
“I’m looking forward to returning to Portland. We were strong there last year; it was the three Penske’s and the 30 car there last year so I’m pretty sure we can be fast there again. We’ve proven our road course package is good and it’s obviously nice to have two of them (road course races) left in the season with Laguna Seca, which has been repaved. And I do believe our road course car is one of the best on the grid so we’ve got to make up for the mistakes that were made there last year. We didn’t get the result that, in my opinion, we deserved so that is the plan. Let’s get the Hy-Vee car on the top step of the podium.”
POINTS BATTLE AFTER 15 OF 17 RACES
Heading into Round 16 of 17, Lundgaard is in eighth place in the series standings with a total of 343 points and Rahal is 14th with 251.
