Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Honda Indy Toronto – Streets around Exhibition Place
NTT IndyCar Series
QUALIFYING NOTES/QUOTES – Saturday, July 13, 2019SATO AND RAHAL QUALIFIED 10TH AND 12TH FOR THE HONDA INDY TORONTO1st: Simon Pagenaud 58.4273 / 110.041 mph
10th: Takuma Sato 58.9110 / 109.141 mph
12th: Graham Rahal 59.0985 / 108.795
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 United Rentals Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It’s been a challenging weekend. There have been times when we’ve been decent and there have been times like in Round 2 of qualifying that I had nothing for them. We struggled a little bit in Practice 1 and in Practice 3 but Practice 2 gave us a glimpse of being competitive. We’re going to start 12th in the race and I’m not really pleased with that. We have been struggling in a couple of areas and it has cost us in lap time. Hopefully we will find a little bit of speed for the race. We don’t have to be the fastest car tomorrow but we’re going to need good strategy. We’ve seen a lot of guys win here that didn’t start up front. In fact sometimes it benefits you if you don’t start up front because you can take a flyer on strategy.”
- FAST FACTS: Will be his 14th Indy car race here and 15th overall including his 2006 Atlantic race… In 13 Indy car races, his best Toronto start is second in 2017 and his best finish is fifth in 2010 with Newman/Haas Racing. He has three, top-five starts and four, top-10 finishes… His highest start of the season is second at Barber and his highest finish is fourth at Long Beach and Elkhart Lake… 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… Rahal is eighth in series point standings with a total of 244.
TAKUMA SATO, No. 30 Mi-Jack / Panasonic Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We are obviously disappointed not to be in the final segment of qualifying but we are just not quite there. Considering we had an issue in Practice 2, we are relieved to be in the top-10 but we still need to work hard on our setup for the race. This track has always presented exciting, unpredictable races. I hope we have a strong enough car to overtake and gain some positions and have the right strategy.”
- FAST FACTS: Will be his 11th race here. In his 10 previous races, his best start is eighth in 2015 and his best finish is fifth in 2016 and Race 2 in 2014 – all with A.J. Foyt Racing. He has four top-10 finishes… He has finished no lower than seventh place in four of the last five races dating back to fifth place in Dual 1 of Detroit and finished the past two races fourth (Road America) and third (Iowa Speedway)… Has FOUR IndyCar Series wins (2013 – Long Beach street course, 2017 – Indy 500 oval, 2018 – Portland road, 2019 – Barber road) and EIGHT 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 ranked sixth in the series point standings with 292 points.
RLL AT TORONTO: The Honda Indy Toronto will mark the 20th year of Indy car racing for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLLR) here. The team also competed in the Atlantic Series races here in 2003 and 2004. The team earned a total of four second place finishes (Rahal 1992, 1994, 1995; Michel Jourdain Jr. 2003) and best start was pole in 1992 by Bobby Rahal. Prior to the 2019 event, the team prepared a total of 33 Indy car entriesfor drivers Bobby Rahal (1992-98), Mike Groff (1994), Raul Boesel (1995), Bryan Herta (1996-99), Max Papis (1999-2001), Jimmy Vasser (2002), Michel Jourdain Jr. (2002-03), Takuma Sato (2012, 2018), Graham Rahal (2013 x 2; 2014 x2; 2015-2018), James Jakes (2013 x 2) and Luca Filippi (2014 x2). The team also prepared three Toyota Atlantic entries (Danica Patrick 2003-2004; Chris Festa 2004). The team has earned FIVE podiums (3rd – Rahal 1996), 9 top-five’s and 19 top-10 finishes at the track. The No. 15 United Rentals entry for Graham Rahal and the No. 30 Mi-Jack / Panasonic entry for Takuma Sato will bring the Indy car total to 35 entries in 2019.
NEXT UP: Warm-up will take place tomorrow from 12:15-12:45 p.m. ET and the 85-lap race will be televised live beginning at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN. Timing and Scoring information is available for all sessions from www.indycar.com and includes commentary by the INDYCAR Radio Network.