Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
QUALIFYING NOTES/QUOTES – Saturday, October 24, 2020
SATO AND RAHAL WILL START 13TH AND 17TH, RESPECTIVELY, FOR THE FIRESTONE GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG INDYCAR SEASON-FINALE
1) Will Power 1:01.0369 / 106.165 mph (Group 2, Round 3)
13) Takuma Sato 1:00.9423 / 106.330 mph (Group 1, Round 1)
17) Graham Rahal 1:01.1458 / 105.976 mph (Group 1, Round 1)
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 United Rentals Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We didn’t perform very well today. In the first practice, we didn’t get a run on the reds. It’s my fault. I wanted to complete a run on blacks and should have just come in and given ourselves an opportunity and I didn’t do that. And then the red came out and reduced the session. Then we went into qualifying a little blind. I think we had enough speed. I pushed it really hard into Turn 1 on Lap 2, got four wheels locked up and about went around and it really hurt us. I’m going to take this one on the chin and we’re going to move on. Tomorrow’s going to be a tough day from where we start but I think my second-best finish here of second place, I started second to last so anything can happen. Its 100 laps and there is going to be plenty of excitement tomorrow. Let’s try to finish this thing off strong.”
TAKUMA SATO, No. 30 Panasonic / Mi-Jack Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I brushed the wall, it was my mistake. Since the field was so tight, little things bit us. We made quite a few small changes on the car which we felt was positive but then putting everything together (in one lap) is always tough business. A small mistake made us not be able to transfer to the next round so that was a shame. We are going in a positive direction though and have the warmup session to continue to improve the car. We will look at the data tonight and I think we can move forward in tomorrow’s warm up.”
NEXT UP: The morning warmup will take place tomorrow from 10:40-11:10 a.m. ET. The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will be televised live on NBC beginning at 2:30 PM ET Sunday, October 25 and the Green Flag will fly at 2:32 PM ET.