Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
Verizon IndyCar Series
PRACTICE NOTES/QUOTES – July 29, 2016
STEAK ‘N SHAKE DRIVER RAHAL WAS FOURTH FASTEST IN THE SECOND PRACTICE FOR THE HONDA INDY 200 AT MID-OHIO; FIFTH OVERALL FOR THE DAY
1) Will Power 1:04.1962 / 126.624 mph
4) Graham Rahal 1:04.5982 / 125.836 mph
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Steak ‘n Shake Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was difficult to get the Steak ‘n Shake car to improve this morning. We tested here last week and came back and it was a whole different beast to drive. The track can change so much in a short amount of time and that why it’s hard to test here, and some teams don’t. With all the GT cars and other cars racing, there are a lot of different types of rubber on the track and on top of that, just a lot of cars period. We definitely improved the Steak ‘n Shake car in the second practice. We got a decent lap in at the end. The rain did catch me on the last part of the lap but we were fourth fastest so we’ll take it. When you come here to test as a single car team, it’s tough. It’s all on you as the lone individual whereas Penske for instance has four cars to share the data with. It’s not easy but my guys have done an excellent job this year of keeping their heads down and fighting hard. Obviously we want to win here, we want to go back-to-back. It’s a big weekend for myself, for all of our sponsors like Steak ‘n Shake, PennGrade and everyone that is heavily involved and makes this happen. I hope we can have a solid weekend.”
RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING AT MID-OHIO … The Honda Indy 200 will mark the 19th Indy car event for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) here and the first time to return as the defending champion. The team also competed in the Atlantic Series race in 2003 with Danica Patrick and has competed in ALMS races here in 2007 and from 2009-2012. The team has one win (G. Rahal 2015), three podiums (3rd: B. Rahal 1997, 1998) and the highest start is pole (Herta 1997). Another front row start came in 1999 (Herta; 2nd). Prior to the 2016 event, the team prepared a total of 28 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) Ryan Hunter-Reay (2007-2008), Takuma Sato (2012), Graham Rahal (2013-2015) and James Jakes (2013). The team has earned THREE podiums (1st – G. Rahal; 3rd – Rahal 1997, 1998), 11 top-five’s and 15 top-10 finishes at the track. The No. 15 Steak ‘n Shake entry for Graham Rahal will bring the Indy car total to 29 entries in 2016.
NEXT UP: Practice 3 will take place tomorrow from 9:45-10:30 a.m. ET and qualifying will be 2:00 – 3:15. NBCSN will broadcast qualifying at 2 p.m. ET Saturday. Timing and Scoring information and live streaming video is available for all sessions from www.indycar.com and includes live commentary by the INDYCAR Radio Network. The Honda Indy 200 will be televised live on CNBC beginning at 2:00 PM ET Sunday, July 31.
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