Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
IZOD IndyCar Series
RACE NOTES/QUOTES — June 16, 2012
TAKUMA SATO RETIRED DUE TO CONTACT IN THE
TAKUMA SATO, No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was a good start to the race. We settled down in a couple of laps and gained a few positions one by one. When we were in clean air it seemed we had good pace, catching the leaders. The pit stop was okay; just a little long and we lost a few positions there but it looks like we were back in racing again. After the restart I was side-by side a couple of times and one stage it was with James Jakes, who was a lap down. We were side-by side from Turn 4 and on the main straight into Turn 1 I was on the inside and was kind of boxed in. I tried to hang on but the track was so slippery on the extreme inside. The car started sliding and we ran out of space. We wanted to finish the race. It is really a shame.”
FAST FACTS: Was his second race here. He qualified 14th and started 24th due to a 10-grid penalty for an unapproved engine change at
JAY O’CONNELL, Technical Director: “Starting at the back due to the 10-position grid penalty, Takuma did a good job on the first stint to make the most of the car and to move up to midfield. He was 13th on his first pit stop on Lap 62. After the subsequent yellow he came out 11th on a good restart and then continued to move his way forward and was 10th on the second pit stop. On the final restart he was in the middle of the field, three cars wide and was 13th when it got sorted out. He tried to pass Jakes, who was a lap down and was unable to finish the pass in Turn 1. He had a good car up until that point and I think he was making steady progress to the front. It looked like Jakes was fairly low on the track and making it tougher for Takuma to get by. Takuma was down on the dark part of the pavement which tends to have a little less grip and made it more difficult to complete the pass.”
RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING AT
NEXT UP: The series will reconvene at Iowa Speedway for next Saturday night’s Iowa Corn Indy 225.