Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing PR

Positions 13-33 Are Set for the 106th Running of the Indy 500

Posted on by Patrick Stephan

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing106th Running of the Indianapolis 500
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
QUALIFYING NOTES/QUOTES – May 21, 2022

POSITIONS 13-33 ARE SET FOR THE 106TH RUNNING OF THE INDY 500

QUALIFYING SPEEDS
1st:     Rinus Veekay          4-lap avg. speed of 233.655 mph     (L1: 234.702, L2: 233.921, L3: 233.353, L4: 232.655)  
21st:   Graham Rahal        4-lap avg. speed of 230.766 mph     (L1: 231.083, L2: 230.643, L3: 230.678, L4: 230.662)
31st:    Christian Lundgaard  4-lap avg. speed of 227.053 mph     (L1: 227.597, L2: 228.507, L3: 226.594, L4: 225.537)
32nd:    Jack Harvey           4-lap avg. speed of 226.851 mph     (L1: 230.401, L2: 225.447, L3: 228.032, L4: 223.640)  

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 United Rentals Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We as a team don’t quite have the pace to do the 33’s and the 32’s like some of these guys have been able to do. I thought the No. 15 United Rentals guys did a good job after a tough Friday, and actually a pretty tough morning where we had a problem with the wheel sets falling off and creating a bad vibration and everything else in the only warmup time that we had. I thought we did a good job to respond and put a good qualifying run together. I do think that we can move forward in the race; I think our race cars are very strong. Clearly, we’d like to qualify a lot further forward than that but it just wasn’t in the cards today. We will put our heads down and focus on the race now.” 

  • FAST FACTS: Will be his 15th Indy 500. His best qualifying position in the Indy 500 is fourth in 2009 with Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing and best finish is third with Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing in 2011 and RLL in 2020. Detailed Indy 500 information available upon request… 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 currently 12th in series standings with 98 points.

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD, No. 30 PeopleReady Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Obviously it’s special to go out there for the first time and try to be as consistent as possible for four laps. It was a tough day at the office. I didn’t quite feel the car was necessarily underneath me but I think you can see that on the times as well. I wish we could have gotten that last run which was prevented due to lightning and rain obviously but the pace just wasn’t in the car today. Jack and I were sort of similar on setup and Graham seemed to be a little away from that and seemed to be quicker. Jack and I will make our way through the field on the 29th for race day and we’ll take it from there. The race car seems to be better than the qualifying car anyway. Heads down and eyes forward. Full focus on the race from now on.”

  • FAST FACTS: This will be Lundgaard’s first Indy 500 and second oval race. He started 24th and ran in the top-10 in his oval racing debut at Texas Motor Speedway in the late stage of the race but ultimately retired I 19th after contact with Herta. He has competed in six INDYCAR SERIES races with a best start of 4th place (IMS road course 2021) and best finish of 9th (IMS road course, 2022)… He is the highest ranked rookie in 17th place in the point standings with 79.

JACK HARVEY, 45 Hy-Vee Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We did the warm up this morning and honestly the car felt pretty good. We came into qualifying probably thinking we weren’t going to make the top twelve but at least have a better showing than that. I feel like the track temp has gone up (since the start of qualifying) and it’s gotten a little more windy and our car seems to be more sensitive to that. We wanted to make another run but the weather prevented that two different times.”

  • FAST FACTS: The race will mark the sixth time for Harvey to compete in the Indy 500. His best start in the Indy 500 is 20th, two times (2020-2021) and best finish is ninth (2020). His highest overall series start is second place and he has accomplished the feat three times, including here (2020 – IMS road course, Road America Race 2; 2021 – St. Pete). The IMS road course is also the site of his highest series finish of third place in 2019. He is ranked 21st with 61 points.  

NEXT UP: The 12 fastest cars will requalify on Sunday from 4-6 p.m. ET to set the top-12 positions. The final practice before Carb ay will take place on Monday from 1-3 p.m. ET. Get a behind-the-scenes look at preparations for the 106th Indianapolis 500 via the Digital Ally Garage Camera on www.rahal.com.