Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Indianapolis 500
Verizon IndyCar Series
RACE DAY NOTES/QUOTES – May 25, 2014
SERVIA DROVE TO AN 11TH PLACE FINISH IN THE 86TH RUNNING OF THE INDIANAPOLIS 500; RAHAL RETIRED IN 33RD AFTER ELECTRICAL ENGINE ISSUES
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 National Guard Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “This is our luck; I don’t know what to say. We had an engine electronic problem and the engine kept shutting off. I didn’t think it was running quite right to start and all of a sudden the engine just kept shutting off. We pitted to try to find out what the problem was then went out for a couple of laps and it just kept shutting off so it was unsafe to continue. I’m sorry for all the National Guard folks that are here. Unfortunately in a case like this, there is not much you can do. It is some gremlin. It was our first race with the National Guard on Memorial Day weekend and we wanted to make them proud. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to succeed today. Today is just not our day.”
- FAST FACTS: Was his seventh 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 four of his six previous races here… In 2008, with Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, he was the highest Indy 500 starter of the Champ Car transitioning teams with his 13th place qualifying effort but made contact on L36 after driving high to avoid the slower car of Lloyd and retired in 33rd place… He qualified fourth for NHLR in the 2009 Indy 500 but made contact on L56 while fifth and retired in 31st… In 2010, he competed for his father’s team – RLL – for the first time in an Indy car. He qualified seventh and ran as high as second but a blocking penalty on L188/200 dropped him from third to a 12th place finish… He qualified 29th with Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing in 2011 and earned his best finish at Indy to date of third place after he led six laps… In 2012, he qualified 12th, ran as high as third and finished 13th for SCCGR… In 2013, he qualified 26th and pitted from ninth place for his second to last stop and his outside rear tire changer had a mechanical problem and Rahal returned to the track in 21st place. He was in 17th with eight laps to go and lost control of his car in Turn 2 and made contact with the wall… His Indy car highlights include a win (2008) and pole (2009) in St. Petersburg.
ORIOL SERVIA, No. 16 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We ran the best at the end of the race but I honestly still feel that we lack some grip. I couldn’t get close to people and if you can’t get close to people, you cannot pass them. We had a good race overall but I was really hoping that the track officials would decide to sweep the marbles like they should because we had around three quarters of the race under green so there were a lot of marbles and pieces of debris out there and that’s why you couldn’t pass anybody which is a shame because you can’t go side-by-side. I don’t know why they decided not to clean the track. I could have been a much better race.”
- FAST FACTS: Was his sixth Indy 500 race here and second with RLL at this track… His best finish is fifth in 2011 and best start is third the same season with Newman/Haas Racing… In 2013 he drove for Panther/DRR where he started 13th, ran as high as fifth and finished 11th… In 2012, he drove for DRR where he qualified 27th and finished fourth… In 2011 he started on the front row (third) with Newman/Haas Racing. He was on pole until the final two qualifiers made their attempts. In the race, he led 18 laps and stayed in the lead pack the entire race to contend for the win in the last 50 laps but the fuel strategy of others limited his finish to a disappointing sixth place… Was running 10th in the 2009 race with Rahal Letterman Racing when a fuel pressure problem forced him to retire after 98/200 laps. He qualified 25th and retired in 26th… Ran as high as eighth and finished 11th in 2008 with KV Racing after he qualified 25th… His Indy car highlights include one win (Montreal 2005) and one pole (Surfers Paradise, Australia 2005).
NEXT UP: The Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit will take next Saturday and Sunday, May 31 and June 1. Timing and Scoring information is available for all sessions from www.indycar.com and includes live commentary by the IMS Radio Network.