Rahal Letterman Lanigan – Syndication Server

Acura/BMW pit skirmish brings drama to Sebring’s third quarter

The sun is beginning to set on the 2025 12 Hours of Sebring with three hours to go, and the cars under safety car primed for a restart. From Brendon Hartley’s off in the fifth hour, the race has been entirely green all the way to the closing stages …

The sun is beginning to set on the 2025 12 Hours of Sebring with three hours to go, and the cars under safety car primed for a restart.

From Brendon Hartley’s off in the fifth hour, the race has been entirely green all the way to the closing stages of the ninth hour. There were a handful of spins and offs, but until Casper Stevenson in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin looped around at Turn 17 and was stranded at the apex with 3h17m remaining, it was green, green, green.

Stephenson’s spin prompted a safety car, though, which reset the field, wiped all the gaps and caused a flurry of pit activity as the 10th hour began.

The No. 31 Whelen Cadillac took the lead at the stops under safety car from the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, which has dropped to second. The No. 6 Porsche sits third, with the No. 93 Acura fourth and the No. 25 BMW up to fifth, having pitted just before the caution.

High drama occurred for two GTP runners in the pit lane during the yellow. Tom Blomqvist in the No. 60 Acura MSR ARX-06 and Philipp Eng in the No. 24 BMW Team RLL collided while exiting the pit lane. Blomqvist pulled out and tagged the right rear of the M Hybrid V8, damaging the front-left corner of his ARX-06 and its steering, prompting him to stop at the exit.

The No. 24 didn’t get away unscathed either, requiring a second stop under caution for a rear clip change, tire change and further inspection as a result of the impact. Both cars are tumbling down the order and out of contention as a result.

Elsewhere in the class, there was drama for Lamborghini’s SC63 — retired with suspected floor damage after 256 laps, marking a tough end to a tough week for the Riley-run prototype and a second DNF in two races to start the season.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1406]

In LMP2 the No. 04 Crowdstrike by APR ORECA is out front, though the team will be frustrated after losing a big lead. Malthe Jakobsen stretched the team’s advantage to 1m11s during his most recent stint, before the team was handed a drive-through for failing to adhere to tire operational requirements which reduced the gap to 50s. That advantage has now been totally wiped out.

The No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA is second with the No. 11 TDS Racing entry third. The top seven in the class are on the lead lap.

Meanwhile, Pratt Miller Motorsports’ ORECA became the fourth retirement early in hour seven. The car, which suffered an oil leak earlier in the race, was withdrawn due to a “technical issue” after 144 laps.

GTD Pro feels like anyone’s game now, with four brands in the top four. The No. 65 Ford Mustang holds the top spot, with the No. 4 Corvette second, the No. 48 Paul Miller BMW third and the No. 77 AO Porsche fourth.

GTD was drama-heavy, with multiple retirements and leaders since the halfway mark. The No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari leads out of nowhere, ahead of the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus and the No. 57 Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Winward’s car has run like clockwork, the only setback a drive-through for a pit stop infringement (a mechanic working on the car from over the wall) while it was running fourth in the eighth hour.

Wright Motorsports’ Porsche lost track position to a recent infraction too. It fell foul of leaving pit lane with equipment attached and needed to serve a drive through which would drop the No. 120 911 to fourth.

There was a rotten stroke of bad luck for the No. 32 Korthoff Competition Motors Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the seventh hour. Kenton Koch, from the lead, peeled off the circuit in the run to the Turn 7 hairpin with a loss of power that would prove terminal. A huge letdown after such a superb run through the first half of the race for the Ohio-based team.

It left the door open for a new leader. The pole-sitting No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari found itself at the head of the field, but it too would hit trouble after Alessandro Pier Guidi had an off at the end of the eighth hour at Turn 1.

The Italian kept the car out of the wall after running wide and hopping over the grass, briefly losing the lead to the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin. Zach Robichon aboard the Vantage fell back to second shortly after when Pier Guidi fought back, but with 3h44m left on the clock the Ferrari would slow to a stop at Turn 6. It was an on-the-spot retirement.

The No. 32 and No. 21 were not the only GTD cars to retire in this phase of the race. The No. 19 VDSR Aston Martin is also no longer taking part after a lengthy trip behind the wall.

Sato to chase third Indy 500 win with RLL

Four of Takuma Sato’s six IndyCar Series wins came while piloting a Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing entry, and the Japanese ace will chase another victory with RLL in May as part of its Indianapolis 500 program. A winner of the great race in 2017 …

A winner of the great race in 2017 with Andretti Global and in 2020 with RLL, Sato will return to the No. 75 Honda during his quest to become Indy’s newest three-timer.

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

“I’m very excited to return for the 109th Indy 500 with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing,” Sato said. “Once again, a heartfelt thank you to Bobby, Mike, David, and the entire organization for this incredible opportunity.

“I’m also deeply grateful for the continued support from AMADA as the primary sponsor, alongside Panasonic Automotive Systems, Niterra, Deloitte Tohmatsu, NAC, Honda, HRC, and all our loyal sponsors. I can’t wait to get to work.”

RLL co-owner Mike Lanigan welcomed the addition of Sato’s skills and experience to the team.

“Takuma has always been quick at the speedway and his two wins confirm his abilities at the Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” he said. “I personally look forward with great optimism, to be the team that gives Takuma the opportunity to win the trifecta and am thankful to have AMADA as primary sponsor again.”

Touron pairs up with Rahal as race engineer for 2025 IndyCar season

Graham Rahal’s odds of returning to victory lane have improved with the signing of Yves Touron as race engineer for the No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda. Regarded as one of the paddock’s best-kept secrets, Touron joins RLL after serving …

Graham Rahal’s odds of returning to victory lane have improved with the signing of Yves Touron as race engineer for the No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda.

Regarded as one of the paddock’s best-kept secrets, Touron joins RLL after serving as Juncos Holling Racing’s technical director, and previous stops include the former KV Racing team, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing and Carlin Motorsports. The Frenchman also spent time in IMSA at multiple teams, which complements RLL’s dual participations in IndyCar and the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

With Rahal aching to end a winless streak that dates back to June of 2017 at Detroit, his pairing with Touron has great potential to move the veteran forward in the championship standings.

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

“I really like a new challenge,” Touron told RACER. “I’ve known some people here at Rahal, and so I’ve been in contact with them. At Juncos, I was technical director, but I felt like the opening and the opportunity to join Rahal as race engineer was exciting. That’s why I accepted that position, and working with Graham is going to be nice. Being race engineer or technical director, for me, it is still technical. I’ve always been involved in development, and that makes it interesting for me.”

Rahal is coming off a 2024 season during which he underwent a mid-year race engineering change to the promising but inexperienced first-timer Ashley Higham, and finished 18th in the championship. Higham, who was praised by Rahal for how he handled the step up to the top-tier engineering role after the season began, has moved across to the No. 30 Honda with Devlin DeFrancesco.

For Rahal, whose IndyCar driving career is expected to wind down in the coming years, the onboarding of Touron speaks to a win-now approach being taken by the team he might lead in the near future.

“I was really interested in working Graham; he’s one of top drivers and been in racing for a long time, and I’m really looking forward to that,” Touron said. “I like working with a seasoned driver; working with someone like Oriol Servia was that way. Those very experienced drivers are so good.”

Touron lands with RLL at an important time. Having undergone constant change in its engineering department, bringing in a proven veteran whose technical director-level skills extend to all areas of vehicular performance fills an acknowledged void. The team moved fellow engineering veteran and Indy 500 winner Todd Malloy over from its factory BMW IMSA GTP program last season to act as its IndyCar technical director, and with Touron in the mix as a new ally, RLL bolsters its engineering corps in ways that should help to elevate the entire effort.

“Looking at what the team has built here from an outside perspective, and going into that part of the of team, I’m like the kid in the candy store,” Touron said. “There’s a lot of opportunities, a lot of development. It’s a bigger team than I’m used to, so for sure, it’s going to take a bit to get acclimated to that kind of environment, but it’s something I am really happy to jump into. The main focus for me is to do good with Graham, and get him up there and do our best and succeed.”

Coyne, RLL teams complete 2024’s final testing laps at Laguna

The final laps of IndyCar action have been turned for 2024 with a two-car test featuring Dale Coyne Racing’s Toby Sowery and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing with Louis Foster at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on Wednesday. It marked the last …

Among the pair of Britons, Foster, the reigning Indy NXT champion, set the unofficial best time at 1m10.198s in the No. 45 RLL Honda, doing so on his 85th of 89 laps. Sowery was the most active, making up for a gremlin-filled November test at The Thermal Club where vehicular issues kept the NXT race winner in the paddock for most of the visit.

At Laguna Seca, Sowery completed 130 laps of the 2.2-mile road course, with his best of 1m10.409s coming on the 104th tour.

“There was obviously a lot of things that we didn’t get to test for at Thermal, so this test was about completing everything that we had lined up there, and looking at the lap count, we made up for that,” Sowery told RACER. “It was a strong test for us, and we didn’t go there specifically chasing pace. As you know, you can quite often end up chasing your tail when it comes to that, and the track was a mile off of what it should be in terms of race weekend pace. So we ticked a lot of boxes, spent a lot of time in the car, did a lot of laps, but everything productive and I think we learned quite a lot with the things that we threw at the car.”

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

Sowery made three starts for Coyne across Mid-Ohio, Toronto and Portland, with a best finish of 13th, which equaled the top result for DCR in 2024. The 28-year-old hopes to find enough funding to return with Coyne in a full-time capacity.

“Opportunities don’t come about too often in IndyCar, so any opportunity that we get is one that we’re going to take, so when Dale reached out to test for him, obviously we couldn’t say no,” Sowery said. “It’s taking every opportunity that we get. And obviously the relationship between myself and the team is very strong and growing at a good solid rate. There’s two sides to the sport: There’s the driving, and then there’s the business side.

“There’s still a lot of work in progress behind the scenes to make it a full-time gig, and I’m thankful for the opportunity that Dale gave us to start the career journey for myself in IndyCar. These tests are very valuable for both the teams that get the opportunities and the drivers with lesser amounts of seat time. So it’s been fantastic for me, no pressure, and we’re continuing to work on making this a regular thing.”

RLL signs Indy NXT champion Foster

New Indy NXT champion Louis Foster will become Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s newest full-time NTT IndyCar Series driver as the Briton has been signed to a multi-year deal. The team did not specify which car Foster will drive and sponsorship for …

“I am really looking forward to working with the team,” Foster said. “Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing have Indy 500 victories, obviously Bobby has won an Indy 500 and there is a great wealth of knowledge with the team. I want to thank Bobby, David and Mike for their faith in my abilities and I want to I can’t wait to start my IndyCar career with the team and hopefully we can have a long and successful career together.

“I’m hoping that coming off the experience gained from winning the Indy NXT championship, that will leave me in a good stance to get the ball rolling. This is where the hard work starts. We will start the preparations and make sure we get hit the ground running in St. Pete.”

The 21-year-old is expected to be a quality addition to the three-car organization; Foster is the second driver confirmed by RLL along with team veteran Graham Rahal.

“We are very pleased that we have been able to come to an agreement with Louis to have him drive for the team for the next several years,” Bobby Rahal said. “He obviously dominated Indy NXT in 2024 and we feel he has a big future ahead of him and are happy to support the ladder system IndyCar has created. We look at this as a long-term relationship that will go beyond the existing terms and are very excited to get started on preparations for the 2025 season and his series debut.”

Rahal: “Sponsorship is key” to RLL’s 2025 line-up

Bobby Rahal and the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team have plenty of work to complete before the next iteration of its three-car NTT IndyCar Series outfit can be confirmed. Graham Rahal is the only RLL driver signed to return, and with a prime …

Bobby Rahal and the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team have plenty of work to complete before the next iteration of its three-car NTT IndyCar Series outfit can be confirmed.

Graham Rahal is the only RLL driver signed to return, and with a prime vacancy to fill in the No. 45 Honda vacated by new Arrow McLaren driver Christian Lundgaard and uncertainty over Pietro Fittipaldi’s continuation in the No. 30 Honda, Rahal’s roster is in flux. Ongoing negotiations with Midwest grocery store chain Hy-Vee, which RLL introduced to IndyCar, and other sponsors are crucial to the team’s ability to finalize its lineup.

“We’re getting closer,” Rahal told RACER. “We’re working at it, and certainly sponsorship is key to that, as it is with everybody. In the next couple of weeks, we should have one car identified, and then we’ll see what happens after that, but so far, so good. Can’t say who’s looking good, or who’s not, or who we’re thinking of, but we’re progressing, so stay tuned.”

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

Along with fellow co-owners Mike Lanigan and David Letterman, the elder Rahal is searching for at least one driver who can help the team to rebound from another season that fell short of expectations. Lundgaard took the baton from Graham Rahal in 2023 as RLL’s top driver after charging to eighth in the final standings, and while he fell back to 11th in 2024 as the team faced ongoing struggles, the Dane was the team’s top performer over the last two seasons.

Identifying the “next Lundgaard” to maintain the standard established by the No. 45 Honda is critical for RLL, and while the team has some young chargers to consider, Rahal sees his son – following a year to forget after placing 18th in the championship – as being in the perfect position to bounce back and lead the revised driver trio forward.

“I have complete confidence in Graham,” the 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner said of his son who’ll turn 36 in January. “This year, I think he had probably more top 12 qualifying results than he did a year ago (from six in 2023 to seven in 2024), but he paid the price with engine penalties. We had seven engine penalties this year, which really hurts. We figured we had 65 grid position penalties amongst the team this year, and that’s hard to recover from, but in any event, [Graham] has still got it. The pace is still there, and the desire is still there.

The younger Rahal is in prime position to lead the next crop of up-and-comers, says father Bobby. Chris Owens/Penske Entertainment

“Clearly, you look beyond him, and there’s a generational change starting to happen in the sense that guys like Scott Dixon and Will Power are all now in their early 40s, mid 40s. I drove to 45, so it can still be done, but you definitely have to be looking at the newer generation. There’s people coming from Europe, people from the Indy NXT paddock, and there’s a lot more younger guys out there looking for rides, so you have to be open and take a longer-term view of who you bring on because that’s the environment right now.

“This happened years ago when I got to IndyCar. Between ’82 and ’84, a lot of new guys came in, a lot of older guys left, and we’re going through the same thing again, so it’ll be interesting because you’ve got a lot of people coming from Formula 2 that have done tests and there’s some good guys there. We’re at that point in the next couple years with the younger generation coming in that we have to plan for.”

RLL has F2 standout Juri Vips on retainer and IndyCar free agents Rinus VeeKay and Linus Lundqvist are among the many drivers who hope to get the nod from the team to replace Lundgaard. The fate of Fittipaldi, whose backers secured the No. 30 entry for the Miami-born Brazilian, is another lingering question for RLL to answer. With adequate sponsorship in hand, Rahal would like to continue the practice of hiring an elite driver to wield the No. 45, and the following decision on who’ll pilot the No. 30 is likely to be informed by the quality of the driver’s skill and funding.

“All I know is, whoever we ask to come join the team, we’re gonna have confidence that they can be competitive and run the in top six, top eight,” Rahal said of the No. 45 car. “When you saw the results of [Linus] Lundqvist, and others that came straight from Indy NXT, it doesn’t seem to be a big jump, and they can get the job done, so that’s good for the series.

“Certainly it’s a really legitimate training ground for guys wanting to make the next step up, and I’m not sure you could always say that. The next six weeks is going to be exciting times for the series.”

The next critical step is trying to keep major sponsor Hy-Vee around. Motorsport Images

Speculation has been rife in relation to RLL and its ability to retain Hy-Vee as the primary sponsor of the No. 45 entry. There have been consistent rumors over the last month of a general reduction in the company’s expenditures on racing, which includes a partnership with Penske Entertainment in the funding and promotion of the doubleheader event at Iowa Speedway, and a possible splitting of its expenditures to partially cover the No. 45 and for Penske to pay for its affiliated AJ Foyt Racing entry for David Malukas.

“Well, we’re not there yet, but certainly I’m hopeful,” Rahal said of signing an extension. “That’s probably going to be one of the things that we’re going to hear about soon. My understanding is that Hy-Vee is cutting back on a lot of their sports properties, and even the [Iowa] event to some extent, is what I hear. I don’t know what that really means, but obviously, there’s still going to be a race in Iowa, but we’re going to know fairly soon.”

On the topic of potentially losing out on sponsorship to the team owned by the series’ owner, Rahal said he isn’t focusing his energies on supposition.

“I would say we’ve had a very strong relationship with everybody at Hy-Vee, so I wouldn’t listen too much to those rumors,” he surmised. “But we’re waiting for a direction from them, and hopefully it’ll be a good one.”

Vips driving for his RLL future at Portland

Juri Vips has one chance to make a final impression on Bobby Rahal, David Letterman and Mike Lanigan. The Estonian arrives in Portland, site of the first half of his two-race NTT IndyCar Series debut for RLL in 2023, in a fourth entry for the team …

Juri Vips has one chance to make a final impression on Bobby Rahal, David Letterman and Mike Lanigan.

The Estonian arrives in Portland, site of the first half of his two-race NTT IndyCar Series debut for RLL in 2023, in a fourth entry for the team as it looks to lock in its replacement for the outgoing Christian Lundgaard.

With only Graham Rahal signed for 2025, RLL could also be in the market for a second driver next year if it elects to move on from newcomer Pietro Fittipaldi. For Vips, a strong weekend on the 1.9-mile road course could make the difference in whether he’s chosen to help lead the team in its next chapter.

“Definitely, a lot of movement in the driving market at the moment, and a lot of very, very strong free agents,” Vips told RACER. “I think this opportunity also couldn’t come at a better time, because hopefully I can remind everyone in the paddock that I can still drive and keep my name up in the list of people. I’m super grateful for the opportunity, obviously, from Bobby, and just want to get going already, as you can imagine.”

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

Vips impressed on his IndyCar debut in Portland and the following weekend in Monterey, and while he’s only scheduled to compete in Oregon, track familiarity — despite spending nearly a year out of an Indy car — and solid road racing cars from RLL should allow the 24-year-old to give a proper account of his capabilities.

“We’ve done plenty of simulator runs through the year,” he said. “Unfortunately, they didn’t have Portland in the Honda sim, but to be honest, I feel much more prepared than I did last year. OK, I haven’t driven all year, but I already know the track, so naturally in my mind, I have some references from last year. And I’ve been through an IndyCar weekend now, so I know how everything works and how the rhythm of a weekend goes. It’s definitely not easy. I miss the kind of muscle memory of driving the car, but I do feel a lot more prepared than last year.”

Getting through Turn 1 on the first lap and any restarts will be key for Vips, who needs enough of the 110 laps on Sunday to make a statement in the high-pressure audition.

“I will try and do the exact same thing that I did last year, and just stay on the inside, because generally with gravity, if you do have a crash, it tends to migrate to the outside,” he said. “Last year wasn’t actually too messy into Turn 1. But I did manage to gain two spots from the inside last year. So I’m just gonna try and do the exact same thing — find a gap there.

“If I do a good job, I will be able to fight in the top 10 and for the top positions. It’s a good feeling for a driver because you just need to execute. You know that the car is going to be more or less in the window, so I’m just going to keep it simple and focus on my driving.”

Maloney hungry for more after RLL IndyCar test

Zane Maloney completed his first NTT IndyCar Series test and wants more. Presently fourth in the F2 championship on the strength of two wins and six podiums, Maloney is charting the path for his career when the F2 season ends. Meetings with several …

Zane Maloney completed his first NTT IndyCar Series test and wants more.

Presently fourth in the F2 championship on the strength of two wins and six podiums, Maloney is charting the path for his career when the F2 season ends. Meetings with several IndyCar teams have gone well, and in the test arranged with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing on Aug. 1, the F2 title contender spent the day in mixed conditions at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on its road course and completed approximately 100 laps in an RLL Dallara DW12-Honda.

As the only car on the track, Maloney didn’t have the luxury of other drivers to use as a benchmark in the hybrid IndyCar, but he’s said to have been fast and efficient, which shouldn’t come as a surprise as other Formula 2 drivers — including RLL’s outgoing Christian Lundgaard, Juri Vips and reigning champion Theo Pourchaire — have been quick upon arrival in the American open-wheel series.

“For a first test, I don’t think it could have gone too much better,” Maloney told RACER. “I came straight from the last round of
Formula 2 in Belgium, did the seat fit, a little bit of simulator and then straight onto the track. The team were very welcoming and went through everything that we needed to be prepared for the test. There was quite a lot of weather, so it was just two hours of running being lost because of the rain. Otherwise, we got some good running in, lots of push laps.

“With the IndyCar tires, compared to Formula 2, there’s a lot more push laps, so you do a lot less warming and cooling and you do a lot more pushing, and that’s always fun as a driver. I felt comfortable straight away with the car, with the team, with the tires. The pace there straight away in the in the dry, and also the few laps that I did in the wet, felt confident straight away. Generally, I think it was a very well-executed day. Of course, there’s still the few hundredth here and there, but with more time in an IndyCar, that I can get.”

Maloney enjoyed the similarities and differences of an IndyCar compared to his regular ride, Rodin Motorsport’s Dallara F2. Andy Hone/Motorsport Images

The 20-year-old Barbados native found a lot of similarities between the heavier, hybrid Dallara IndyCar and the Dallara F2 2024 he races for Rodin Motorsport, the former Carlin Racing team he joined in 2023.

“In Formula 2, the car is already quite heavy, so it’s a similar style of driving,” Maloney said. “Of course, the street circuits are a bit different over in the in the U.S., a bit more bumpy, a bit more going on, so that’s exciting. But in general, it was quite similar to a Formula 2 car.

“I think the biggest thing was the tires that are just very different to the Pirellis. Had to adapt to that. You can definitely feel that it’s a heavy car and it takes a bit more time to stop, a bit more time to turn and to really get settled, but I think that there’s a certain driving style for that which Formula 2 has helped me learn.

“I just loved pushing every lap and really getting the most out of every lap, learning as much as I could, giving the team as much information as I could. And I think we got to a stage at the end of the day where we all learned quite a lot. So, a lot of things to a lot of positive things to move forward with, and that’s all you can ask for in a test.”

With more than half of IndyCar’s teams looking to fill vacant seats or upgrade talent, Maloney is pressing to create opportunities for himself throughout the paddock.

“In Formula 2, there are four rounds left, so I’m really looking to do the best job possible and try to win the championship; full focus on that,” he said. “Of course, everyone’s dream as a kid growing up is Formula 1, but there’s so many things outside of my control, and IndyCar is an amazing championship. So if I had an opportunity in IndyCar, I’d be very grateful, for sure.

“The drivers throughout IndyCar, the teams as well, they’re all top-level teams and drivers. So I think there’s a very good field outside of Formula 1 still. And of course, there’s a lot of street circuits, a lot of ovals, a lot of road courses. IndyCar has a bit of everything. As a driver, that’s very exciting.

“I’m excited to continue my journey in IndyCar for sure, see what is available, what is possible, and see where the future takes me. I’m looking for a very good career in motorsports and I’m just trying to improve myself every day and trying to work with whichever team is best so I can to get the most out of myself.”

F2’s Maloney to test RLL IndyCar on IMS road course

Formula 2 championship contender Zane Maloney will conduct his first NTT IndyCar Series on Thursday. The test will take place with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, the team has confirmed to RACER. The …

The native of Barbados, who holds fourth in the F2 standings with two wins this season, has been actively pursuing opportunities in IndyCar. He will test for an RLL team in search of a replacement for its top performer Christian Lundgaard, who is departing for Arrow McLaren at the end of the season.

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

Like Maloney, Lundgaard arrived at RLL with multiple years of F2 experience, and with the Dane’s rerouting to IndyCar, he proved to be a revelation for the Honda-powered squad.

The three-car team owned by Bobby Rahal, David Letterman and Mike Lanigan entered the Olympic break with Lundgaard sitting 11th in the drivers’ standings, Graham Rahal in 17th and Pietro Fittipaldi in 19th.

Rahal hopeful of keeping Lundgaard in the fold for 2025

Bobby Rahal knows he has one of the most coveted IndyCar free agents left on the market with Christian Lundgaard. With Lundgaard’s contract set to expire at the end of the season, and with his manager having tested the waters at other teams with opportunities to pursue, Rahal wants to keep the impressively fast and consistent product of Denmark in the No. 45 Honda for 2025, and maybe longer, if they can come to terms.

As more seats get filled or are taken off the list of options at rival teams, the narrowing options in the paddock could play to RLL’s favor, but there are no guarantees their top performer — who finished eighth in last year’s championship and leads the team this year in 11th — will be back.

“I’m not sure where else, aside from maybe Penske, that would be better,” Rahal told RACER. “We’ve been as fast as all those other guys at a lot of races. So I don’t know why he’d look elsewhere, but you always are going to just see what the market will bear. But our intent is to re-sign him. And as I’ve said before, I don’t think he’s looking to go anywhere, necessarily.

“But we’ve got to continue to give him good race cars and do a good job for him. We’ll see what happens. And sooner rather than later we’ll know what the scenario looks like. But it’s certainly our intent to keep to keep him.”

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

As Rahal told RACER while discussing the future of Juri Vips — another driver in the RLL stable — the team needs to reach a decision with Lundgaard and also figure out how many cars and drivers it will field in 2025.

Along with Lundgaard, RLL veteran Graham Rahal in the No. 15 Honda (15th in the drivers’ standings) and newcomer Pietro Fittipaldi in the No. 30 Honda (20th) are in the mix with its three-car program, and in looking to next season, Rahal said, “Right now, it’s all about finding the financial backing to do whatever we want to do, whether it’s two cars, three cars, four cars, or whatever.”

Along with expanding, a departure by one of the three would make it easier to solve the four-driver puzzle.

“It’s just a matter of we’re putting our head down making sure that we have the financial resource to do a good job for our drivers next year,” Rahal said. “I really can’t tell you exactly what it will look like yet; obviously we like Pietro and we hope he stays. But yes, there’s too many butts, too few seats at this stage. We could run a fourth car. That’s dependent on what Honda or Chevrolet, whoever we’re with next year, might say.

“We really are just looking at putting together all of our sponsorship packages, and we’ve already had a couple of re-ups, so that’s good. It’s also that time of the year where, I hate to say it, anything could happen. It’s just a matter of getting through the next races. Then we have a break after Toronto and we’ll get a better idea on where things could stand.”

With the uncertainty surrounding Honda’s future in IndyCar beyond its current contract that runs through 2026, Rahal, who introduced the Japanese brand to the series under the Rahal-Hogan Racing banner in 1994, wants to stick with the company and do a contract extension of its own if possible.

“We’re fulfilling our agreement, our commitment for this year, and we’re happy to do so,” he added. “All I know is we have had a long relationship with Honda, but the engine count is a big deal these days, and understandably so. We certainly would like to stay with Honda, but never seem to be the automatic choice. We may be put in a position where we have to look elsewhere. I hope not. But we’ll find out.”