Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
PRACTICE NOTES/QUOTES – September 8, 2023
VIPS, RAHAL AND LUNDGAARD SET THE 6TH, 7TH AND 25TH FASTEST TIMES IN PRACTICE 1 OF THE FIRESTONE GRAND PRIX OF MONTEREY
1) Colton Herta 1:07.5382 / 119.292 mph
6) Juri Vips 1:07.9175 / 119.199 mph
7) Graham Rahal 1:07.9515 / 118.567 mph
25) Christian Lundgaard 1:08.5958 / 117.453 mph
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 iPacket Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We were P7 (seventh) in Practice 1 and Juri was sixth so it was a solid day. On the first set of tires, I just had a massive amount of understeer which cost me pretty good. But we didn’t really get to run reds (alternate tires), which was probably the story for most guys since there were so many red flags. They just kept coming out, but I feel like the pace of the iPacket car is good. It’s going to be super-competitive which is why there are so many reds around here. With the pace that we are going, the level that is is, you are absolutely driving beyond 10-10ths on every single lap. Unfortunately, it’s causing a lot of guys, including myself yesterday, to make mistakes. We’ve just got to put our heads down and see what we get here over the next day or two. I think we’ll be solid though.”
JURI VIPS, 30 Mi-Jack Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was a good day and pretty good start to the weekend. We were in the same place as we were in testing yesterday. We were pretty solid right out of the box and were P3 when I did my fast time. We were competitive and I think the Mi-Jack car had more in it. I think the track changed a little bit compared to yesterday and I wasn’t quite fully committed so there is still time there. I was going to fully commit on the reds, which I didn’t get to run. We had a bit of a precautionary think from Honda’s side. They saw something on the data they didn’t like and wanted to take precautionary measures so we stopped on track.”
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD, No. 45 Hy-Vee Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Practice 1 was a bit of a disaster out there. On my first run I had a rock stuck between my suit and the seat so every left-hand corner wasn’t so pleasant on my right shoulder, so we stopped on our new tire set just to get that out. Then we went out and my first push lap I didn’t stop in the corkscrew so we went straight (off track) there. We never had a proper lap throughout the whole session. It was just a messy session. Tomorrow will be much better hopefully and we can get the Hy-Vee Honda up there on the timesheets.”
RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING AT LAGUNA SECA … The 2023 Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey will mark the 16th Indy car event for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and third here since 12 consecutive races at the track from 1992-2003. The team has also competed in ALMS and IMSA races here from 2009-2021, and 2023 as BMW M Team RLL and has earned three wins, three poles and a total of 11 podium finishes to date — including pole and a second place finish in 2019. The team finished third at the May 1, 2022 race. The INDYCAR team has earned three wins, three poles and a total of six podiums (1st – Herta 1998-1999; Papis 2001; 2nd – Herta 1996; 3rd: B. Rahal 1992, Papis 1999) including three straight pole positions (Herta 1997-1999).
NEXT UP: Practice 2 will take place tomorrow from 10:00-11:00 a.m. PT and qualifying will take place from 2:00-3:30 p.m. PT. Peacock will broadcast all sessions live. Timing and Scoring information and live streaming video is also available for all sessions from www.indycar.com and includes live commentary. The Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey will be televised live on NBC beginning at 3 PM ET Sunday, September 10.