Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing PR

RACE NOTES/QUOTES – Sunday, July 17, 2022

Posted on by Patrick Stephan

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

NTT INDYCAR SERIES
Honda Indy Toronto – Streets around Exhibition Place
RACE NOTES/QUOTES – Sunday, July 17, 2022

RAHAL EARNED HIS TOP HONDA INDY TORONTO FINISH OF FOURTH PLACE, LUNDGAARD EARNED HIS TOP SERIES FINISH OF EIGHTH AND HARVEY WAS 19TH AFTER PIT STOP ISSUES

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 United Rentals Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Fourth place for us in Toronto and let me tell you, for the United Rentals team, P4 feels like a W. We’ll take that. I’m very proud of our guys. They put their heads down and kept working hard. We earned this result; it certainly wasn’t given to us. That first stint was really good. Our pace was unbelievable out front leading and ultimately that put us in the position that even the yellow kind of hurt our strategy to be frank but the yellow also put us in a position that the guys just knocked it out of the park with that pit stop. Plus four in one pit stop; amazing job by them! We had a fill in fueler – Jacob – who did an amazing job. And “Cuz” was here filling in for us this weekend. I’m just super proud of the United Rentals team. It was a great comeback for us. We’ve been down in the dumps but to come back and get a fourth place here feels really good. Iowa here we come!”

  • FAST FACTS: He started 14th and was the top driver who elected to start on the more durable primary tires. He held his position until the pit cycle started for those who wanted to replace their alternate tires due to their performance drop. He was able to stay out until he cycled into the lead for Laps 19-24 before making his first of two stops on Lap 25. Fast pace, track position and excellent stops prevailed through various pit cycles and four cautions for a total of 15 laps resulted in a fifth-place rank heading into a restart on Lap 66/85 where he passed McLaughlin for fourth place. He held the position until the checkered flag for his best finish of the season and best career finish at Toronto of fourth place… Was his 15th Indy car race here and 16th overall including his 2006 Atlantic race… In 15 Indy car races, his best Toronto start is second in 2017 and his best finish is fourth in 2022 with RLL. He has three, top-five starts and six, top-10 finishes here… Rahal moved from 15th to 13th in series point standings with a total of 210.

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD, No. 30 HUB International Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was a tough, long race that didn’t pan out in anyone’s favor except the early stoppers and the guys that did a middle stint on reds. We went long on the first stint on reds and came out behind the guys that pitted early that undercut us. And then a yellow came out and the guys ahead could have a free stop and etc. so I think we were unlucky with most of it. It was a long race for sure. I think we struggled a bit with degradation. We didn’t have the power down we needed to get further forward so it’s something we need to look at but it’s a good starting point for Nashville.”

  • FAST FACTS: He started 10th and climbed as high as fifth before his first of two stops on Lap 17. He made his second stop with the majority of the field during the second of four caution periods on Lap 47 and returned to the track 12th. He gained more positions when a few drivers made their final stop and others made contact. He took the checkered flag in eighth place for his highest career INDYCAR finish to date… He has competed in 10 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 16th place in series standings and is the highest ranked rookie with 183.

JACK HARVEY, 45 Hy-Vee Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We arrived to Toronto more competitive in general which is a good omen for the team. Obviously, everyone has been working really hard but we’ve got to get our pit stops better and we’ve got to do better race strategies than that because we took a car that was easily capable of being in the top-10 and took it to P19, so we’ve got some work to do.”

  • FAST FACTS: Made his first INDYCAR SERIES start in Toronto from a 13th place start. He lost two positions on the start but settled into a fast pace. Problems on both of his pit stops limited his finishing position to 19th… He competed here in 2014 in Indy Lights where he started fourth and finished third. And also competed in the doubleheader here in 2015 where he started fourth in Race 1 and fifth in Race 2 and finished second in both. He is 20th in series standings with 126 points.  

NEXT UP: The much-anticipate Hy-Vee INDYCAR Weekend will take place next weekend at Iowa Speedway. The Hy-VeeDeals.com 250 will air on NBC on Saturday, July 23 at 4:00 p.m. ET and the Hy-Vee Salute to Farmers 300 will air on NBC on Sunday, July 24 at 3:00 p.m. ET.