Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
104th Running of the Indianapolis 500
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
RACE NOTES/QUOTES – Sunday, August 23, 2020
TAKUMA SATO BROUGHT THE TEAM ITS SECOND INDY 500 WIN AS WELL AS HIS SECOND; RAHAL MATCHED HIS BEST INDY 500 FINISH WITH THIRD AND PIGOT WAS EXAMINED AND DISCHARGED FROM METHODIST HOSPITAL AFTER A CRASH
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 United Rentals Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was a great day for our team, the entire organization and all of our partners. I hope Spencer is ok; that’s my main concern at this time. Secondly congrats to Takuma for a heck of a drive. I’m proud of you and thankful for what you have done for our program and all of our partners. I thought we had a run at it but just got too loose the last stint. But our United Rentals team was unbelievably good in the pits today and we were able to work our way forward. For us to come home P1 and P3 today means the world to me. Solid day all around. We’ve got a championship chase that we’re in now and we’ve got two races in St. Louis next weekend. Hell of a job RLL!”
TAKUMA SATO, No. 30 Panasonic / PeopleReady Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Simply an amazing day. I just can’t put words for it. Big thank you to everyone. Obviously the Speedway, Roger Penske, and the Hulman-George family. To get this race going this year, I know it’s a lot of people’s commitment. But we really appreciate it. So happy to be part of this organization. First of all, I mean, what an amazing team, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is. I know it’s everything a team and a driver can dream of winning the 500. Achieving one (first) and three (third) in this fashion is simply amazing. Thanks Bobby, Mike Lanigan, and of course David Letterman. The entire team, especially the 30 boys, my Panasonic PeopleReady Honda was extremely strong and competitive. It was a little bit fast on the last few laps. Then we had to drive into the pit one lap before Scott. That put us a lot of difficulty in terms of the fuel mileage. I wanted to go to the full power, which Honda and HPD give us incredible performance, but still I have to save the fuel. I was back and forth. Best power when Dixie is coming. To pull it off that way, it is simply amazing. I want to say thank you so much for everyone who supported. “I think we had the best car. Only we were a lap short from Dixie [Scott Dixon] in terms of the fuel strategy, and [making fuel mileage to the finish] was a little tight. I couldn’t use max power to switch back and forth. And Dixon kept coming through Turn 4 [on the final green flag lap] and I was just able to hold him off. This is unbelievable. Everyone did a hell of a job. HPD and Honda gave us a lot of power and a lot of fuel mileage.”
SPENCER PIGOT, No. 45 Hy-Vee / Embrace Pittsburgh Dallara/Honda/Firestone: A quote was unavailable due to his late discharge.
RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING’S SECOND INDY 500 WIN: This was the second Indy 500 win for the team and first since 2004 when Buddy Rice won from pole. Both wins came from front row starts. In 2012 with RLL, Sato was alongside eventual winner Franchitti in Turn 1 on the final lap but his race ended due to contact after he was squeezed down on the apron and lost control of his race car. He was able to deliver that win today.