Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
DXC Technology 600 – Texas Motor Speedway
Round 9 of 17 in the 2019 NTT IndyCar Series
QUALIFYING NOTES/QUOTES – Friday, June 7, 2019
SATO EARNED HIS SECOND POLE OF THE SEASON, NINTH OVERALL AND FIRST AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY; RAHAL WILL START NINTH FOR THE DXC TECHNOLOGY 600
POLE: Takuma Sato 2-lap avg. speed of 220.250 mph (L1: 220.433, L2: 220.067 mph)
9th: Graham Rahal 2-lap avg. speed of 218.449 mph (L1: 218.607, L2: 218.291 mph)
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Fleet Cost & Care Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The run was good, the Fleet Cost & Care Honda was pretty good but I had a little bit of understeer and sixth gear was a little long so it didn’t pull. We didn’t trim as much as I think a lot of these guys did by the looks of it but I thought I would be relatively satisfied if we could start in the top 10. Takuma trimmed a little more than I did and he made a good run so congrats to him on pole. I think our race car is pretty good. We’ll go race tomorrow and see what happens.”
- FAST FACTS: Will be his 12th race here. In his 11 races, his best start came in 2012 of third and best finish is his win in 2016. In 2018, he started 20th and took the opportunity to pit during the first caution for a fire on Leist’s car on Lap 9 after running 19th. This enabled him to stretch his fuel and cycle into the lead on Lap 68 before he made his second stop on Lap 72 and returned to the track in 14th. He took over 13th when Veach made contact and then into 12th when Newgarden pit due to a tire going down. The field had been watching for tire wear, particularly on the right front and rear, and Rahal reported a vibration on lap 101/248. As the next pit cycle began, he moved up to second by Lap 127 before making his stop on L128. Her returned to the track in 13th place and moved up to eight when a caution came out for Wickens and Carpenter, who made contact on Lap 173. At this point, he was in seventh and a lap down but was waved around before he made his next pit stop on L183. When the race restarted, he held seventh place and another caution came out for Power and Claman De Melo who made contact as Claman De Melo was passing on the high side. He was in sixth and the team elected to pit for new tires when the pits opened. The race was restarted on Lap 215/248 and Rahal maintained his position until the checkered flag. His win in 2016 came in the postponed event. The June 11, 2016 race was postponed until June 12 due to rain which again postponed the race to August 27 after the field completed 71 of 248 scheduled laps before rain came again. Rahal had qualified 13th for the race and was in 12th when it was halted. On August 27, he restarted on Lap 72 and quickly moved to sixth place. He maintained a top-five position the majority of the time except after pitting and never was lower than eighth. He ran second many times and only led once – the final lap – and won by a margin of victory of 0.0080-of a second in what is the fifth-closest finish in Indy car history and the closest finish at Texas Motor Speedway… Has SIX IndyCar Series wins (2008 – St. Pete street course; 2015 – Fontana Super Speedway, Mid-Ohio road course; 2016 – Texas Super Speedway; 2017 Detroit Race 1, Detroit Race 2) and THREE poles (2009 – St. Pete street course, Kansas oval; 2017 – Detroit Race 1 street) and his highest series season-ending standing is fourth place in 2015… He is ninth in series point standings with a total of 175 points.
TAKUMA SATO, No. 30 ABeam Consulting Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Great job from the team. The car was a rocket ship. Coming from the Indy 500, this feels like a really short lap. I love the high-banks of Texas, the track is iconic for INDYCAR. It was an absolute team effort for the No. 30 ABeam car. The engineers worked so hard, Honda gave us great power and even Graham gave me a tip for the conditions. I was dreaming about it. Tomorrow will be completely different, the conditions will be different because it’s a night race but I’m looking forward to it. .”
- FAST FACTS: In his 10 previous races here, his best start was fourth place, two times (2016 with A.J. Foyt Racing; 2011 with KVRT) and he has earned three top-10 finishes with the best being fifth place in 2011 with KVRT. Last year he started ninth and ran mostly in the top-10 other than pit cycles. The field was monitoring tire wear, particularly on the right front and rear tires, and Sato had to make his second pit stop early for new tires which put him two laps down. Later in the race he received a wave around during the caution for Wickens and Carpenter and another for the caution for contact between Power and Claman De Melo to be on the lead lap with approx. 35 laps to go while ninth. After the restart, he passed Jones and then took over seventh when Newgarden served a drive through penalty for jumping the restart. He took the checkered flag in seventh place… Has FOUR IndyCar Series wins (2013 – Long Beach street course, 2017 – Indy 500 oval, 2018 – Portland road, 2019 – Barber road) and NINE poles (2011 Iowa oval, Edmonton street; 2013 Houston Race 1 street; 2014 St. Pete street, Detroit Race 2 street; 2017 Detroit Race 2, Pocono oval; 2019 Barber, Texas oval). He is currently ranked fifth in series point standings with 256 points.
RLL AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY: The DXC Technology 600 will mark the 17th event for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) at the 1.5-mile, high-banked Texas Motor Speedway oval. The team’s highest start of pole with Scott Sharp came in 2007 and today by Sato and the highest finish of first came in 2016 with Graham Rahal. The team earned another front row start in 2004 when Buddy Rice qualified second. Overall the team has earned five top-five finishes and 10, top-10’s at the track.
NEXT UP: The DXC Technology 600 will take the Green Flag at 7:45 p.m. CT Saturday. Live coverage will begin at 8 p.m. ET on NBCSN.