Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
104th Running of the Indianapolis 500
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
POLE DAY NOTES/QUOTES – Sunday, August 16, 2020
SATO EARNED HIS BEST START FOR THE INDY 500 OF THIRD PLACE; RAHAL AND PIGOT TO START EIGHTH AND 12TH RESPECTIVELY FOR THE 104TH INDIANAPOLIS 500
QUALIFYING SPEEDS
1st: Marco Andretti 4-lap avg. speed of 231.068 mph (L1: 231.826, L2: 231.146, L3: 230.771, L4: 230.532)
3rd: Takuma Sato 4-lap avg. speed of 230.725 mph (L1: 230.805, L2: 230.916, L3: 230.659, L4: 230.520)
8th: Graham Rahal 4-lap avg. speed of 229.308 mph (L1: 230.389, L2: 230.126, L3: 229.746, L4: 227.284)
PRACTICE SPEEDS
1) Marco Andretti 224.122 mph
17) Spencer Pigot 221.691 mph
26) Takuma Sato 221.747 mph
30) Graham Rahal 220.235 mph
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 United Rentals Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We qualified eighth, which we’ll take. We can race from there. We feel like our race car is actually pretty good. It’s hard to tell in practice. We ended up 30th on the timesheets which doesn’t matter at all. We feel like we have a good race car, are able to pass a bunch of cars. It’s going to be tough. You don’t know whether guys were on new or used tires during that run but I thought we were very, very competitive. I’m pleased with what we have. Obviously, we’re going to work on it before we go out there for Carb Day. With the wind today, we don’t know that we’re going to get wind this high come Carb Day or race weekend. If the wind goes away then a lot of people’s problems will certainly be less. We feel good about the United Rentals car and if I say that, typically we are pretty solid so hopefully we’ve got something good to go race with.”
TAKUMA SATO, No. 30 Panasonic / PeopleReady Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Starting on the front row is a big accomplishment for us. It’s great for the Panasonic / PeopleReady Honda and the 30 boys. Everyone at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing worked hard over the off season to improve our performance here and the results showed today. Honda, great, great work from them, just a tremendous job from them and the team. Now we shift to preparing for the race. We have another practice this afternoon that will be extremely important; also ‘Carb Day’ [final practice on Friday]. We believe we have a strong car in race trim, we’re so already looking forward to the race on Sunday.”
SPENCER PIGOT, No. 45 Hy-Vee / Embrace Pittsburgh Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Today was definitely a bit better than our last practice day so that is positive. I think we are heading in the right direction with the Hy-Vee / Embrace Pittsburgh Honda. It’s definitely difficult out there, especially towards the end of the session with the sun coming down and the Aeroscreen getting dirty and stuff. It’s tough in traffic. There is just not as much grip as in years past and the Aeroscreen gets really dirty as well, so it gets tricky to see. Overall I think we made some progress though so I will go back and compare notes with my teammates and do it again on Friday. .”
NEXT UP: The team will continue preparations for the Indianapolis 500 this week and get back on track on Friday for Carb Day between 11-1 p.m. ET. NBC will begin coverage of the 104th Indianapolis 500 at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 23. Get a behind-the-scenes look at preparations for the 104th Indianapolis 500 via the six Digital Ally Garage Cameras on www.rahal-staging.ktnlcqy7-liquidwebsites.com.