Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach
Round 3 of 17 in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES
QUALIFYING NOTES/QUOTES – Saturday, April 9, 2022
1) Colton Herta 1:05.3095 / 108.480 mph (Group 1, Round 3)
13) Graham Rahal 1:06.6896 / 106.235 mph (Group 1, Round 1)
20) Christian Lundgaard 1:06.5049 / 106.530 mph (Group 2, Round 1)
21) Jack Harvey 1:06.9708 / 105.789 mph (Group 1, Round 1)
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Quartz Engine Oil Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Qualifying has come to a close for us and the Quartz Engine Oil car will start P13. I’m disappointed after this morning. I thought we had more in it but we are just struggling a little bit overall as a team here. The balance isn’t that far off but clearly the pace is just not there, I’ve been fortunate with Christian and Jack — Jack in particular — with his experience with Shank last year. He has a good feel for what the car should feel like and how to go faster around here and we just have to keep working on it. We’ll get there, but obviously I’m disappointed to come so close. I think we missed advancing by a hundredth or half a tenth or something like that. But head down, focus to tomorrow, we can race with them.”
FAST FACTS: Will be his 15th Champ/Indy car race here and 16th overall. His best IndyCar start here is fifth in 2007 and best finish is second place in 2013. In 2021, he ran as high as second place two times and led four laps by utilizing an alternate strategy after starting 19th but the timing of a caution for contact between teammate Askew and Daly while he was on his in-lap for his final pit stop dropped him to 20th. He came back to finish 16th…. A recap of results is available upon request… He also competed in the 2006 Champ Car Atlantic Series race here… Has SIX IndyCar Series wins (2008 – St. Pete street course; 2015 – Fontana Super Speedway, Mid-Ohio road course; 2016 – Texas Super Speedway; 2017 Detroit Race 1, Detroit Race 2) and THREE poles (2009 – St. Pete street course, Kansas oval; 2017 – Detroit Race 1 street) and his highest series season-ending standing is fourth place in 2015. He is currently ranked 12th in series point standings with 34 points.
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD, No. 30 Shield Cleansers Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Qualifying is done here in Long Beach and it was not the best of sessions even though I did feel it was the best car we’ve had all weekend. The pace isn’t there unfortunately. We’ve got a warmup tomorrow, and have got to see if we can improve the racecar and see if we can take it from there. Qualifying is done now so we have to improve for the longer distance for the race and see where we are at. We’ll be back at it tomorrow.”
FAST FACTS: The 2022 race will be his fourth INDYCAR race and first in Long Beach. He is the highest rookie in the points standings with a rank of 15th with 30 points.
JACK HARVEY, No. 45 Hy-Vee Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Not an awesome session for sure. We tried a new setup there to try and get the weekend going in the direction we want and unfortunately it didn’t give us what we were looking for and we probably lost a step compared to practice. It’s a pretty disappointing qualifying here in Long Beach for the #45 Hy-Vee Honda, but obviously now we turn around and take it to the race and see if we can have a better one.”
FAST FACTS: He has competed in three INDYCAR races there with his best finish of seventh place coming last year after he led one lap. He also has experience starting up front after having won pole in one of this two Indy Lights races at the track in 2015. He is ranked 26th in series point standings with 17 points after missing the Texas race.
3 POLES, 6 PODIUMS FOR RLL IN 21 INDY CAR RACES AT LONG BEACH: The 2022 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach (AGPLB) marks the 22nd time for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) to compete in the event. Although the team didn’t compete in Indy car races here from 2004-2011 while they fielded a fulltime entry in the Indy Racing League (2004-2008), they did compete in the 2003 and 2004 Atlantic races with Danica Patrick and in the 2007 American Le Mans Series (ALMS) race. In total, the team has won three poles (Herta 1998, Vasser 2002, Jourdain, Jr. 2003); made five front row starts including an all-Team Rahal front row in 1998 (2nd – Rahal 1998, Brack 2001); earned their best finish of second place four times (Rahal 1992-1993, Vasser 2002, G. Rahal 2013) and earned six podiums here (2nd – Rahal 1992-1993, Vasser 2002 & G. Rahal 2013; 3rd – Herta 1998-1999). From 2009-2019, the team competed on the streets of Long Beach in the GTLM class of the ALMS/IMSA with BMW Team RLL and as finished on the podium each year but 2016-2019 although they started from pole in 2016 and led all three of those races. The venue is still the most successful for the team on the current IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship schedule with wins in 2011, 2013 and 2015, eight podium finishes and five poles in 11 years. BMW M Team RLL has a one-car entry in the GTD Pro Class of IMSA and is competing here this weekend.