Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
PRACTICE NOTES/QUOTES – March 8, 2024
THE 2024 NTT INDYCAR SERIES SEASON KICKED OFF WITH PRACTICE ONE OF THE FIRESTONE GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETE
1) Felix Rosenqvist 1:00.3390 / 107.393 mph
13) Christian Lundgaard 1:01.0927 / 106.068 mph
22) Graham Rahal 1:01.6303 / 105.143 mph
26) Pietro Fittipaldi 1:02.6532 / 103.426 mph
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was a sloppy session for us. We really struggled with car balance badly for most of the session. Then we tried to run the alternate tires and it went red on my first flying lap and by the time we went back out, I just couldn’t activate the tire which seemingly was our issue on blacks (tires). I just couldn’t get the tire to work and it cost us. We found 0.8 of a second on the last lap and it was not a pretty lap and it didn’t start well at all. Is there another three or four tenths (of a second)? Maybe, but to get to Christian’s five-tenths is probably going to be tough. We’ve got to see what we can do overnight to try to make the cars better.”
PIETRO FITTIPALDI, No. 30 OAKBERRY / Pneustore Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was my first practice session ever in St. Pete and the track is crazy. The track is fast, it’s very difficult, very bumpy but I’m looking forward to getting more laps tomorrow. We definitely need more laps to get up to speed so I’m looking forward to Practice 2. The team is doing a great job. It’s very hot here I’m sweating a lot but super excited for the potential.”
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD, No. 45 Hy-Vee Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was a different format for practice this year and it was interesting for sure. I don’t think its necessarily of benefit, but I also think there are different opinions across the paddock from our perspective. I think the car is a little unconnected. There is potential and I think the fundamentals are there, but we haven’t quite connected the car but it’s not far out of the window. Compared to Felix (Rosenqvist), I think everybody is out of the window. He seems extremely fast. I have full confidence in the Hy-Vee team. We’re working hard and we know what to do. We know that the balance direction we need to move towards. I’m pretty stoked for tomorrow. It’s going to be an earlier session so we’ll see what improvements we can make overnight.”
NEXT UP: Practice 2 will take place from 9:35 – 10:35 a.m. ET tomorrow and qualifying will take place from 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. Both sessions will be televised live on Peacock. The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will be televised live on NBC beginning at 12:30 PM ET on Sunday, March 10.