Iowa INDYCAR 250s – Iowa Speedway
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
RACE 1 NOTES/QUOTES – Friday, July 17, 2020
SATO AND RAHAL FINISHED 10TH AND 12TH IN RACE 1 OF THE IOWA INDYCAR 250s AT IOWA SPEEDWAY; SATO LED 49 OF 250 LAPS
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 One Cure Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was kind of an up and down nights for us. I thought that the One Cure car had periods in the race where we were okay and were able to make up time. You look, we fell down a lap very early in the race and we only finished two down so obviously the pace was alright through the middle stints but we put ourselves in a hole to begin but then we got around some guys a couple of times – it was hard to get by, and kind of lost track there a little bit. But I thought our guys did a good job in the pits; I thought the strategy was fine. We had one set of tires that we struggled on but other than that we were just kind of trying to work our way to the front. Obviously, Simon did a great job. But when you start where we did and struggled like we did today, it is hard to win a race like this. Hopefully tomorrow is a little better.”
TAKUMA SATO, No. 30 Panasonic / Mi-Jack Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I was a tough race but I think we improved a lot in the race although obviously were not able to change the car between qualifying and the race. We focused for the race (in practice) and I think that was right. At one stage we led the race and we were competing in the top three, top five, but unfortunately on the last period of the yellows we decided to divide the two stints so we pitted. Most of the people who finished high today basically stayed out. We need to review the strategy. Nobody knew how it would play out until we finished. I think the boys did a great job and I think we gained quite a lot of good experience today so we should be better tomorrow.”
RLL AT IOWA: The Iowa INDYCAR 250s will mark the 11th and 12th events for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) at Iowa Speedway. The best finish for the team is third in 2018 by Takuma Sato and 2007 by Scott Sharp who also earned the top start for the team of fourth the same year. The team has earned two podiums (3rd – Sharp 2007, Sato 2018) and nine, top-10 finishes at the track.
NEXT UP: Practice 2 will take place tomorrow from 2:30-3:30 p.m. CT. Race 2 of the Iowa INDYCAR 250s will take the Green Flag at 7:45 p.m. ET. NBCSN will begin live coverage of the race at 8:30 p.m. ET. Timing and Scoring information is available for all sessions from www.indycar.com and includes commentary by the INDYCAR Radio Network.