Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
105th Running of the Indianapolis 500
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
QUALIFYING NOTES/QUOTES – May 22, 2021
SATO, RAHAL AND FERRUCCI QUALIFY 15TH, 18TH AND 23RD, RESPECTIVELY, FOR THE INDY 500
QUALIFYING SPEEDS
1st: Scott Dixon 4-lap avg. speed of 231.828 mph (L1: 232.574, L2: 231.762, L3: 231.612, L4: 231.368)
15th: Takuma Sato 4-lap avg. speed of 230.708 mph (L1: 231.386, L2: 230.857, L3: 230.525, L4: 230.067)
18th: Graham Rahal 4-lap avg. speed of 230.521 mph (L1: 230.799, L2: 230.510, L3: 230.425, L4: 230.350)
23rd: Santino Ferrucci 4-lap avg. speed of 229.949 mph (L1: 230.546, L2: 229.856, L3: 229.721, L4: 229.676)
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 United Rentals Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The United Rentals No. 15 is going to start 18th. I’m disappointed to not get a shot at the end. I’m disappointed for us and I’m also disappointed for the fans because I think a lot of the drama that was missed today was the fact that you had Rossi, Takuma and myself, and guys like that in line to give it a shot and we didn’t even get a chance. It is what it is, the rules are set the way that they are. They guys get a run in even if they’re not quick enough to make it. They can just file right back in the line and keep going. Like I said the rules are the rules and we didn’t time it quite right to be able to get out but honestly, I’ve got a feeling we would have made it but that’s easy to say now. Now we just focus on the race car. Eighteenth is not where we thought we would start by any means, but we have a good race car and we’ll be able to race from there and do a great job.”
TAKUMA SATO, No. 30 Panasonic / PeopleReady Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Our performance was not fast enough unfortunately. The 30 car is 15th for the race which is not a bad place, of course, but not excellent. After being in the front row last year, it was a frustrating day. We went to make a second attempt, but it was the middle of the day and a bit too hot and we tried to go to a third attempt but just as we had the opportunity (next in line) in Lane 2, we had to respect the rule (for Lane 1) and unfortunately we didn’t get out (on track) which was frustrating. But I think we have a strong car for the race so we will put all our focus on the race car now. We still have a good session tomorrow as well as Carb Day. We need to move up. It’s going to be a tough race.”
SANTINO FERRUCCI, No. 45 Hy-Vee Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Qualifying day wasn’t what we hoped. We’re going to start 23rd, in the middle of the eighth row. I started there in 2019 and came hope with a seventh-place finish and that was my first ever oval race. I’m looking forward to working with the guys tomorrow for practice. We’ll get our car really quick in race trim and hopefully we’ll move forward well enough and get in that top three. It was a pretty anti-climactic day overall. We went out early and got a good run in but I had to lift and I was expecting to get another run in. We lined up mid-afternoon and it was just too hot. We lined up again at the end and so many people were trying to go in Lane 1 and we just never got our shot but I think our car was definitely capable of a top-15 spot, if not a top nine one.”
NEXT UP: Qualifying to set the top nine positions will take place tomorrow from 3 – 3:45 p.m. ET and the field of 33 will have a practice session from 5-7 p.m. ET. Get a behind-the-scenes look at preparations for the 105th Indianapolis 500 via the Digital Ally Garage Camera on www.rahal-staging.ktnlcqy7-liquidwebsites.com.