Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Honda Indy Toronto – Streets around Exhibition Place
Verizon IndyCar Series
QUALIFYING NOTES/QUOTES – Saturday, July 14, 2018
AFTER SETTING THE FASTEST TIME IN THE PRE-QUALIFYING SESSION SATO DISAPPOINTED WITH HIS BEST TORONTO START OF SEVENTH FOR THE HONDA INDY; RAHAL QUALIFIED 13TH AS WET CONDITIONS PRODUCED EXTRA CHALLENGES FOR THE FIELD
FASTEST: Josef Newgarden 59.4956 / 108.068 mph (Round 3, Group 1)
7th: Takuma Sato 59.0712 / 108.845 mph (Round 2, Group 2) Was P1 in Practice 3
13th: Graham Rahal 1:14.7769 / 85.984 mph (Round 1, Group 1)
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Rousseau Metal Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The whole session was influenced by weather but that’s not necessarily the reason we’re where we are. We didn’t have enough to advance to the next round which is frustrating. Our car in the dry is really strong but not in the wet. We’ll have to work hard overnight to make sure we have a good race car. The good thing is we do have six sets of new tires for the race. We’ve got three sets of reds that are brand new and also three sets of blacks so we’ve got tires for days over these guys. And if the wear on the reds is a factor, it could play into our hands. And if it’s not and the reds do last and they are quicker, it could play into our hands even more. We’ll see how it goes in the morning warm-up. I’m clearly disappointed for both myself and Takuma after the way this weekend started. I don’t think any of us saw ourselves in this position.”
TAKUMA SATO, No. 30 Mi-Jack / Panasonic Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We were very competitive the entire weekend so far. Qualifying was tricky. It started off in rain conditions, then damp, then it started to dry. We decided to do a slightly different strategy which was that we started off on new reds then half way through we changed to the new blacks which seem to be quite durable. We had a little degradation problem with the first set of the new tires. It seemed to be still drizzling so the track conditions were not as good as we thought. Perhaps the softer compound, red tire had maybe a little more premium grip and we lost out by a tenth (of a second) to be P6 (sixth fastest; to advance to Round 3). It’s a pity but we tried. What we know is we have a strong race car so hopefully we have a good pace tomorrow.”
RLL AT TORONTO: The Honda Indy Toronto will mark the 19th 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 2018 event, the team prepared a total of 31 Indy car entries for 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), Graham Rahal (2013 x 2; 2014 x2; 2015-2017), 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 Rousseau Metal entry for Graham Rahal and the No. 30 Mi-Jack / Panasonic entry for Takuma Sato will bring the Indy car total to 33 entries in 2018.
NEXT UP: Race morning warm-up will take place between 11:40-12:10 PM ET tomorrow. NBCSN will begin live coverage of the Honda Indy Toronto at 3 PM ET. Streaming video and Timing and Scoring information is available for all practice sessions from www.indycar.com and includes commentary by the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network. Timing and Scoring information for qualifying is also available live with commentary.
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