Rahal, Sato and Ferrucci Gained Valuable Knowledge of the Music City Grand Prix Course in Practice 1

Rahal Letterman Lanigan RacingBig Machine Music City Grand Prix
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
RACE NOTES/QUOTES – July 6, 2021

RAHAL, SATO AND FERRUCCI GAINED VALUABLE KNOWLEDGE OF THE MUSIC CITY GRAND PRIX COURSE IN PRACTICE 1

1)         Colton Herta              1:16.5875 / 98.711 mph        
14)       Graham Rahal           1:17.9825 / 96.945 mph
17)       Takuma Sato             1:18.2167 / 96.655 mph        
25)       Santino Ferrucci       1:21.3815 / 92.896 mph        

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 United Rentals Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Day 1 has come to a close here in Nashville and we ended up P14. We just really didn’t improve throughout the session on the United Rentals car. We started the session around the top five getting good speed there, but when everybody else started to get comfortable with the track and be able to go, we kind of lost our competitiveness there. Unfortunately, in the end we didn’t get as much out of the last twenty minutes of the session and didn’t get a lot of quality running so that is part of the game, clearly. But I’m disappointed that we weren’t able to be a little bit better. Overnight we’ve got to make some changes, get with Takuma and see what he thinks and adjust from there.”

  • FAST FACTS: Will be the inaugural event in downtown Nashville… 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 in 9th place in series point standings with a total of 256.

TAKUMA SATO, No. 30 Shield Cleansers Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “If I could say one word – it’s just WOW. Incredible experience, it’s just super bumpy as you can probably see. But if you look at onboard footage, you can’t even keep it flat through the bend which at the end of the straight on the first bridge because it was so bumpy. It’s challenging, but certainly it’s just a little bit more about the equipment.  We need to have a look underneath the car because we beat it probably too hard. But I think other than that it’s super exciting, very interesting – the section on the back straight is very narrow and the steering wheel is all over the place. I think Nashville – the promoters did an incredible job, so congratulations on that. The fans are so incredibly enthusiastic, so we are all very happy but a long way to go for us to go fast. Long night tonight, but hopefully we have a great weekend.”

  • FAST FACTS: Will be the inaugural race in downtown Nashville… Has SIX INDYCAR SERIES wins (2013 – Long Beach street course, 2017 – Indy 500 oval, 2018 – Portland road, 2019 – Barber road, Gateway oval; 2020 Indy 500 ) and 10 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 road, Texas oval; 2020 St. Louis – Race 2).  He is 10th in the point standings with 256 points.

SANTINO FERRUCCI, No. 45 Hy-Vee Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The race track’s not too bad here in Nashville. Definitely some prayers out there for bumps to say the least, but it’s a lot of fun.  Hopefully we put on a good race. I think passing over the bridge will be a big deal. Our session was not so great; I just was taking it way too easy on the brakes, just trying not to lock up. That’s kind of where the time is.  It’s not anything specific, so yeah we have a little bit to work on going into session two tomorrow and we will see how we do.”

  • FAST FACTS: After a strong result of sixth place in the Indy 500, sixth and tenth respectively in Race 1 and 2 at the doubleheader in Detroit, and ninth at Mid-Ohio, Santino returns to the team for the Nashville race.

RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING IN NASHVILLE… The Music City Grand Prix will mark the inaugural event for the team here.  The series previously conducted eight races on the 1.33-mile Nashville Super Speedway oval from 2001-2008.The team’s highest start there was pole in 2004 by Buddy Rice and highest finish was fourth with Danica Patrick.

NEXT UP:  Practice 2 will take place tomorrow from 1:00 – 1:45 p.m. ET and qualifying will be 4:30 – 5:45. All sessions will air on Peacock Premium and Sunday’s race will also air on NBC Sports Network at 5:30 PM ET. The race warm-up will take place from 1 – 1:30 p.m. ET.   Timing and Scoring information is available for all sessions from www.indycar.com and includes commentary by the INDYCAR Radio Network.