RAHAL AND SATO TO START 15TH AND 17TH IN THE HONDA INDY 200 AT MID-OHIO

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Four cars were within six-hundredths of a second in our group and we weren’t on the right end of that to progress to Round 2. Obviously, we’re disappointed to not be faster. Gearing cost us two-tenths alone just down the straightaways.  We’re going to have to find more speed for tomorrow. We made progress this morning from yesterday and we hoped to continue that in qualifying. We won from 13th here so we’re just going to have to try to do the same from 15th.”

• FAST FACTS: The 2019 Honda Indy 200 will mark Rahal’s 12th Indy car race here.  His best start is fourth in 2009 and 2017 and his best finish is his win here in 2015 from a 13th place start. He has finished in the top-five, four times in his past five races here. In total, he has one win (2015), two podiums (2017), four top-five and six top-10 finishes in his 11 races here. He has also competed in many other series at his “home track.”  At the age of 16 in 2005, he became the youngest to claim the SCCA National Formula Atlantic championship at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs here by a dominant 43-seconds.  He also competed in the Star Mazda race here in 2005 (S/F 4/9) and tested a Grand Am car here in 2007… His highest start of the season is second at Barber and his highest finish is third at Texas Motor Speedway… 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… Rahal is ranked eighth in series point standings with a total of 290.

TAKUMA SATO, No. 30 Mi-Jack / Panasonic Dallara/Honda/Firestone:  “We’re just not quite there on the setup.  We made some improvements from practice but it seems like we need more speed. We want to try a few things in the warmup to make the car faster and then we will try to work our way forward in the race.”

• FAST FACTS: Will be his 10th race here. In his nine previous races, his best start is third – in 2010 with KVRT and in 2017 with Andretti Autosport.  He has two top-five finishes and three top-10’s. In 2011 he finished fourth with KVRT and he finished fifth in 2017 year after starting third… His highest start of the season is pole at Barber (road) and Texas (oval) and his highest finish is his win at Barber … Has FOUR IndyCar Series wins (2013 – Long Beach street course, 2017 – Indy 500 oval, 2018 – Portland road, 2019 – Barber road) and NINE poles (2011 Iowa oval, Edmonton street; 2013 Houston Race 1 street; 2014 St. Pete street, Detroit Race 2 street; 2017 Detroit Race 2, Pocono oval; 2019 Barber, Texas oval).  He is ranked sixth in the series point standings with 301 points.

RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING AT MID-OHIO … The Honda Indy 200 will mark the 22nd Indy car event for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) here. The team also competed in the Atlantic Series race in 2003 with Danica Patrick and has competed in ALMS races here in 2007 and from 2009-2012.  The team has one win (G. Rahal 2015), four podiums (3rd: B. Rahal 1997, 1998; G. Rahal 2017) and the highest start is pole (Herta 1997).  Another front row start came in 1999 (Herta; 2nd).  Prior to the 2019 event, the team prepared a total of 32 Indy car entries for drivers Bobby Rahal (1992-98), Mike Groff (1994), Raul Boesel (1995), Bryan Herta (1996-99), Max Papis (1999-2001), Jimmy Vasser (2002), Michel Jourdain Jr. (2002-03) Ryan Hunter-Reay (2007-2008), Takuma Sato (2012, 2018), Graham Rahal (2013-2018) and James Jakes (2013).  The team has earned FOUR podiums (1st – G. Rahal; 3rd – B. Rahal 1997, 1998, G. Rahal 2017), 13 top-five’s and 18 top-10 finishes at the track.  The No. 15 Fifth Third Bank entry for Graham Rahal and No. 30 Mi-Jack / Panasonic entry for Takuma Sato will bring the Indy car total to 34 entries in 2019.

NEXT UP:  Pre-race warmup will take place from 12-12:30 p.m. ET Sunday and the 90 lap Honda 200 at Mid-Ohio will take the green flag at 4:05 p.m. ET. Live coverage will begin on NBC at 4 p.m. ET.  Timing and Scoring information is available for all sessions from www.indycar.com and includes commentary by the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network.