Rahal, Lundgaard and Harvey Qualify for the Honda Indy GP of Alabama

#15: Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda

Rahal Letterman Lanigan RacingHonda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama
Round 4 of 17 in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES
QUALIFYING NOTES/QUOTES – Saturday, April 30, 2022

RAHAL, LUNDGAARD AND HARVEY TO START 9TH, 14TH AND 15TH IN THE HONDA INDY GRAND PRIX OF ALABAMA

1)         Rinus Veekay                        1:06.2507 / 124.980 mph            (Group 2, Round 3)
9)         Graham Rahal                       1:06.6339 / 124.261 mph            (Group 1, Round 2)  
14)       Christian Lundgaard             1:06.7462 / 124.052 mph            (Group 2, Round 1)
15)       Jack Harvey                           1:06.6511 / 124.229 mph            (Group 1, Round 1)

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Code 3 Associates Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We made good gains from yesterday to qualify ninth. Wee want to be in the top-six; we’ve been on the front here before. It’s a place where we’ve had a lot of success. I love it here, the fans are always amazing when we come here and we want to put on a good show for them. We’re going to have to do that from ninth tomorrow. The car made really good improvements; the Code 3 Associates crew has worked very hard. We’re chucking away at it. This year all year I think we’ve missed a little and we’re getting closer. It’s hard to do in a weekend like this; it’s pretty quick. Last night you get one practice, you jump in this morning and you only get about an hour to do changes before now. It’s pretty busy but all in all a solid starting spot.”

  • FAST FACTS: Rahal will compete in his 12th race here… His best start here is second place in 2019 to bring the team a 1-2 start… He played a major factor in the most exciting races of the 2015 and 2016 seasons as he challenged for the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama win but earned his best finish here of second place both times… 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.

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD, No. 30 Shield Cleansers Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Qualifying done and I didn’t get through (to Round 2) unfortunately. We’re nearly there, I was on a very good lap at the end just before the red flag.  Yeah, it’s unfortunate, I think in the end the red flag was kind of caused by VeeKay going through in Turn 8 and put some gravel on the track and I ran wide there because there was gravel on the track. I got into Turn 13 and ran wide. I think I just hit the grass and there was some gravel on track. It’s unfortunate, I think we had the car to get through but probably not much more than that. We’re in a bit of the same situation as Long Beach now, so we are going to crack on tomorrow.”

  • FAST FACTS: The 2022 race will be his fifth INDYCAR race and first at BMP.  He is the highest rookie in the points standings with a rank of 17th with 42 points.

JACK HARVEY, No. 45 Hy-Vee Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Progress on the weekend has actually been quite good, I would say, from where we started to where we’re heading through both practice sessions, which was good. I was feeling confident going into qualifying, Ultimately, we had way too much understeer on (Firestone alternate) reds and we weren’t able to extract any more lap time out of them and we ended up P8. I think I actually would have transferred (to Round 2) if we had been in the other group so that’s sometimes just how that goes. I think we are definitely going down a good path, just obviously not the result in qualifying that we’ve shown we could get. I’m hoping it’s going to be a good race for the Hy-Vee team. I think the strategy could easily be a two stopper with some minimal fuel saving so I’m sure a lot of people will gravitate towards that. Where we are, we have to try and overtake cars and move forward so that’s what I’m going to try and use the warmup to focus on.”

  • FAST FACTS: It will be Harvey’s third INDYCAR race at the track and seventh overall.  He competed in Indy car races here in 2019 and 2021 with a best start and finish of 11th in 2021. He also competed in two doubleheader Indy Lights events here in 2014 and 2015 where he started second twice and earned three podiums in four races with his top finish being second place in Race 1 and 2 in 2015.

RLL AT BARBER: In 2019, the team qualified 1-2 for the race here, which was the first time the team locked out the front row of an Indy car race since the September 11, 2005 race at Chicagoland when Danica Patrick won pole and Buddy Rice started second. Sato led 74 of 90 laps en route to victory. The 2022 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama will mark the 10th INDYCAR SERIES race for the team at Barber Motorsports Park (BMP).

NEXT UP: The Honda Grand Prix of Alabama will be televised on NBC from 1:00-3:00 PM ET Sunday, May 1.