Sato Fastest Most of the Day Before Ending Second Overall; Rahal and Pigot Both Confident With Progress During Preparation for the Indy 500

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

104th Running of the Indianapolis 500
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
PRACTICE DAY NOTES/QUOTES – August 13, 2020

SATO FASTEST MOST OF THE DAY BEFORE ENDING SECOND OVERALL; RAHAL AND PIGOT BOTH CONFIDENT WITH PROGRESS DURING PREPARATION FOR THE INDY 500

1)         Scott Dixon          226.102 mph   
2)         Takuma Sato        225.693 mph   
19)       Graham Rahal     223.297 mph
22)       Spencer Pigot     223.043 mph

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 United Rentals Dallara / Honda / Firestone:  “We had a really good day for the No. 15 United Rentals team. We tried a lot so we stopped a little bit early because we’ve got a lot of data to go through. We did a couple of long runs and the last one in particular felt really good. We seemed to be competitive. Its tough out there; It’s tough to follow, but we were able to pass some cars which I’m pleased about. We’ve got a couple of little issues to work on, mainly left rear tire vibration which we think is self-induced so we will focus on that and try to get it better for tomorrow. Obviously tomorrow we turn up the boost a ton and we’re going to do a lot of qualifying sims so you won’t see as much race running so it will be interesting to see how the next couple of days go.  But feel like our car has some good pace. I feel like it was good in the race run so here we go. Let’s see how the weekend turns out.”

• FAST FACTS: Will be his 13th Indy 500. His best qualifying position in the Indy 500 is fourth in 2009 with Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing and best finish is third with Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing in 2011 after he led six laps. He ran in the top-five in eight of his 11 previous races here. Detailed Indy 500 information available upon request. 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 currently sixth in series standings with 142 points, only 53 out of second place.

TAKUMA SATO, No. 30 Panasonic / PeopleReady Dallara / Honda / Firestone:  “I’m pretty happy. I think it was quite a productive day. Obviously the scoreboard was nice, being in the first place and second place felt good. It means nothing, but I think that’s a reflection of the cars getting quite a good adhesion. You get in a big tow, you able to follow people with the new tire.  Obviously that pure speed is far off from non-tow situation but I’m pretty happy with that speed. In the traffic run, which is very difficult this year, with the Aeroscreen the air efficiency goes down, and it is very difficult to overtake. I think we were landing on a good pace. Overall, I think it was a very good day.”

• FAST FACTS: 2017 Champion of the Indy 500.  The 2020 race will be his 11th Indy 500 and third with RLL. In 2012 with RLL, he 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 finished third for RLL in 2019 and was a contender in the final laps… Has FIVE IndyCar Series wins (2013 – Long Beach street course, 2017 – Indy 500 oval, 2018 – Portland road, 2019 – Barber road, Gateway oval ) 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 road, Texas oval).  He is 17th in series standings with 99 points.

SPENCER PIGOT, No. 45 Hy-Vee / Embrace Pittsburgh Dallara / Honda / Firestone: “The day was okay.  Again, it seemed to be a little better.  Before we stopped for lunch I think we had a few things that we didn’t quite get a handle on today but we definitely made some good changes throughout the day to the Hy-Vee / Embrace Pittsburgh car so we will try to build on those for the next time we do race running. But now we will focus on getting speed out of it and go as fast as we can tomorrow and get ready for qualifying. It’s always exciting when the boost gets turned up. It’s definitely a little different going a lot faster with less downforce. We’re just trying to get the opposite of today where we were looking for traffic, running with cars to improve our race setup and now we’re looking to be all by ourselves. It’s a totally different mindset but Fast Friday is always a fun day.”

• FAST FACTS: Will be his fifth Indianapolis 500 and second with the team (2016).  His best start in the Indy 500 is third and his best finish is 14th – both in 2019 with Ed Carpenter Racing… He drove one of his best Indy car races to date with RLL earlier this year in the GMR Grand Prix. He started 16th and raced into the lead on Lap 55 but a likely podium finish evaporated after a mechanical failure led to his retirement after 74 of 80 laps.

NEXT UP: Fast Friday will take place from 11 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. ET tomorrow. Get a behind-the-scenes look at preparations for the 104th Indianapolis 500 via the Digital Ally Garage Camera on www.rahal-staging.ktnlcqy7-liquidwebsites.com.