Tag: Graham Rahal

The latest Indianapolis road course pole-winner Graham Rahal says that he finds it reassuring to have beaten everyone to the top spot, not just for the sake of his team but in bolstering his own confidence.

Rahal failed to qualify his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda for the Indianapolis 500, but earned a reprieve when he subbed for the injured Stefan Wilson at Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.

Since a miserable showing for the RLL team overall in the 500, however, several personnel changes have been made and the team has been on a hot streak, particularly with Christian Lundgaard, who took pole and victory in Toronto and will join Rahal on the front row at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course tomorrow.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1408]

However, Rahal is still seeking his first top-five of the season, despite qualifying on the front row at Mid-Ohio, and there had been speculation as to whether his personal efforts to help team owners Bobby Rahal, David Letterman and Mike Lanigan had distracted him from his driving duties. There has even been some muttering – stoked by asides from Graham himself – as to whether retirement was imminent. Today’s performance has muted many of those critics, he hopes.

“Clearly this weekend is very different than the 500, but it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t carry a lot of significance and importance to our team and to me personally,” he said afterward. “I’ve seen plenty of the hate, plenty of the ‘can’t do it, can’t compete with the kids,’ can’t whatever.

“To be able to silence some of that – and I thought we did a bit at Mid-Ohio – but it’s nice to see a good step forward finally in the car the way I want it to drive. It’s starting to come together.”

Asked if he and the team were still evaluating each other, he responded: “It’s still a work in progress. Nothing’s signed, nothing’s changed. My intentions are to stay. We’ve got an extremely, extremely good core group of sponsors, I think better than anybody else in the series. That’s growing for next year. There’s no intentions to swap. I have talked to others, but that doesn’t mean that I’m one foot out the door.

“Everybody knows this: I wanted to not only evaluate where the team stands, but myself. I think it’s important to take a step back, look in the mirror, figure out where do I want to go, what do I want to do? Qualifying on pole helps those decisions, for sure, knowing that you can still do it, knowing you can be up front. A win tomorrow would make it even sweeter.

“At the end of the day I think a lot of people just assume I’m going to retire at some stage soon. I mean, I’m only 34. I know I’ve been here for a 100 years, but I still feel like I’ve got a little while left. Also the reality is that these young guys are really, really good now. You’ve seen it in Cup, too, right? These kids that are coming in are ultra-prepared, way more prepared than I was the first time I drove an IndyCar, anything like that. So the competitive nature continues to rise.

“It’s nice to have a reminder that you belong, for sure.”

Quizzed on where he might go if he decides to split from RLL, Rahal stated: “I don’t just say this because my dad is part of this, the biggest blessing we have as an organization is owners that are 100 percent committed to win, put it on the line, day in and day out, to make that happen.

“Not only that, we have sponsors that are committed to it. Relationships like I have with everybody on this suit, literally, we spend a lot of time cultivating that, trying to make those relationships stronger and stronger. Those are things that I value more than anything else.

“When racing is all over, relationships are what is going to carry you through the rest of your life. Not race wins, pole positions, nothing else. Those relationships are critical to me. I want to make sure we continue to deliver for them. I think that’s ultimately most important.”

Rahal sounded confident, too, that the RLL cars that he, Lundgaard and Jack Harvey (qualified eighth) have for Saturday’s race will be strong over the course of a stint.

“Hopefully Christian and I can get off clean, not be under too much pressure behind,” he said. “We will be because of the characteristic of the track. Hopefully nothing happens and we can get through [Turns] 1, 2, just frankly go. I think both of us have really, really good cars. I think both of us have cars that are going to be consistent. Firestone brought a good alternate tire back — the 2021 tire is back. I think that’s going to be the preferred. See what plays out.”

Graham Rahal will lead an all-Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda front row to the green flag for Saturday’s Gallagher Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course after scoring his first pole position since Detroit in 2017. The second generation racer eclipsed May’s Indy road course polesitter, teammate Christian Lundgaard, by 0.1154s in a qualifying session smattered with surprises.

Firestone Fast Six
Five of the cars went straight out on used Firestone alternates, while Alexander Rossi ran primaries on his Arrow McLaren. Initially Devlin DeFrancesco sprang to the top but Lundgaard knocked him off with a 1m10.5858s, and pitted. Pato O’Ward said his rear wheels were locking up on his first run, and pitted for more of the softer reds.

Rossi’s first flyer on reds produced top time, but it lasted mere seconds before O’Ward, Lundgaard and Rahal deposed him. Lundgaard landed a 1m10.2286s and then pitted, 0.1167s clear of O’Ward. But their respective teammates were on two-lap runs, and they paid off handsomely. Rossi, who won this race last year for Andretti Autosport, managed to shade O’Ward by half a tenth of a second, while Rahal — who had set fastest time in Q2 — landed a 1m10.1132s to nab top spot.

DeFrancesco could still be very satisfied with his first appearance in the Firestone Fast Six, as he proved fastest of all the Andretti Autosport Hondas, 0.0083s ahead of Romain Grosjean.

Q2
On Firestone’s harder primary tires, Rossi sat top for Arrow McLaren, ahead of Jack Harvey and Lundgaard of Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Onto the alternates, Rossi was again fast, his 1m10.0124s ahead of his former teammates Grosjean and DeFrancesco in the only Andretti Autosport entries to make the top 12.

Then Rahal ducked under the 70-second bar, with a 1m09.9837s, a couple of hundredths ahead of teammate Lundgaard and Rossi. Grosjean also advanced ahead of O’Ward in a second McLaren, but the big plaudits went to DeFrancesco who made his first ever Firestone Fast Six session.

That meant no Ganassis made it, Marcus Armstrong falling just 0.0008s short of DeFrancesco, while points leader Palou claimed ninth. The pair were split by the third RLL car of Harvey. Felix Rosenqvist was the McLaren knocked out, while Penske’s highest representative will be Scott McLaughlin in 11th.

Q1 Group 2
On primary tires, championship leader Palou led the way for Chip Ganassi Racing ahead of Lundgaard, with Helio Castroneves third for Meyer Shank Racing. Onto the alternates tires, Grosjean was the first to show his hand, ahead of Armstrong and Rahal. Then Lundgaard hit the top spot by three tenths ahead of the ex-Formula 1 driver. He was joined in the 125mph category by Rahal, who was two-tenths down and struggling with a long brake pedal.

Grosjean made it through, as did Castroneves who announced this morning he would be Indy 500 only at MSR in 2024 and ’25.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1408]

All four Ganassi cars were in this group, and it was Palou and rookie Armstrong who made it through, Scott Dixon and Marcus Ericsson who fell short. Indeed, the pair were outpaced by the impressive Linus Lundqvist, getting ready for his second IndyCar start with MSR.

Notably, IndyCar rookie and touring car ace Agustin Canapino beat Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet teammate Callum Ilott by 0.04s.

Q1 Group 1
Qualifying groups are decided by times in first practice — odd positions in one group, even positions in the other — and as fate would have it, all three Arrow McLaren and Team Penske entries were in Group 1. That would make things tough for Colton Herta and Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Autosport Honda and David Malukas of Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Honda. But it would be no easy ride for the Penskes, since both Will Power — who had a bad damper in this morning’s session — and Josef Newgarden who needed a heavily revised setup, went into the session with unknowns hanging over their heads.

It showed. Before everyone ran alternate tires, Rossi sat top for McLaren ahead of DeFrancesco and Harvey. Then once everyone went onto alternates, DeFrancesco and Harvey went to the top ahead of O’Ward and McLaughlin, while Rossi and Rosenqvist ensured all three McLarens were through.

Falling short of their teammate DeFrancesco — and graduation to Q2 — were Herta and Kirkwood, while Power and Newgarden were unable to match their teammate McLaughlin. Newgarden will thus be battling to get back in title contention from the back end of the grid.

UP NEXT: Practice 2, 4:00pm ET

RESULTS

As per the most recent races on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course, Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Honda-powered cars and Arrow McLaren’s Chevrolets were the pacesetters in terms of one-lap speed during opening practice for tomorrow’s Gallagher Grand Prix. The session ended with Graham Rahal and Christian Lundgaard in first and third for RLL and Felix Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi in second and fourth for McLaren.

Inevitably, the 90-minute session began with rookies on track, using their extra set of tires, and it was Marcus Armstrong who was first under the 71s barrier, turning a 1m10.7238s in the No. 11 for Chip Ganassi Racing. As the veterans started to turn fast laps, Lundgaard — defending polesitter here from the GMR Grand Prix in May — moved to the top with a 1m10.4945s, an average of 124.554mph around the 14-turn, 2.439-mile track.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1408]

The man who won last year’s Gallagher GP for Andretti Autosport and took a podium for Arrow McLaren Chevrolet in May then hit the top spot, a tenth quicker than Lundgaard, while Kyle Kirkwood and Colton Herta thrust their Andretti Autosport Hondas into the top five. But with 50 minutes left, last May’s race winner and runaway championship points leader Alex Palou then went top by one tenth of a second with a 1m10.3003s.

A red flag just past the halfway mark was caused by Pato O’Ward sliding off at Turn 12 and stalling, but the McLaren ace didn’t make impact with anything solid and was restarted by the AMR Safety Team. He did have to sit out the next five minutes of the session having caused a stoppage, however.

Linus Lundqvist — in his second event for Meyer Shank Racing as sub for the still recovering Simon Pagenaud — boosted himself up the field with 25 minutes to go, briefly clocking sixth fastest, but was immediately bumped down to seventh by the improving Graham Rahal, a former podium finisher on this track.

The first driver to strap on alternates — Firestone reverting to the slightly harder compound it used here in 2021 — was two-time Indy road course pole winner Rosenqvist. His Arrow McLaren set the first 125mph lap of the session, his second flyer on the softer rubber cracking the 70sec mark with a 1m09.9267s.

David Malukas also used the reds to jump up the order to fourth, until Marcuses Ericsson and Armstrong of Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda clocked third and fourth, the latter impressively still on primaries. NBC Sports reported that Ericsson was suffering a clutch issue, retarding his departure from the pit box.

Lundgaard and Harvey went second and fifth for RLL on the alternates, but it was their teammate Rahal who went to the top with 1m09.8421s with nine minutes remaining.

Scott McLaughlin was the first of the three Team Penske drivers to lay down a representative time, going fifth fastest, until Rossi clocked fourth. In fact, he was the only Penske driver to look fast, with regular Indy road course polesitter Will Power finishing the session in 20th — yet a quarter-second and four spots ahead of Josef Newgarden, who needs to close an 84-point deficit to championship leader Palou in the space of four races.

UP NEXT: Qualifying begins at 12.30pm ET. However, early engine-change penalties will be imposed on three Honda drivers, with Helio Castroneves of Meyer Shank Racing, David Malukas of Dale Coyne Racing with HMD and Jack Harvey of Rahal Letterman Lanigan all dropping six places on the grid.

RESULTS