Harvey, Rahal, Legge & Lundgaard Had A Productive First Day at IMS in Preparation for the Indy 500

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing107th Running of the Indianapolis 500
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
PRACTICE DAY NOTES/QUOTES – May 17, 2023

HARVEY, RAHAL, LEGGE AND LUNDGAARD HAD A PRODUCTIVE FIRST DAY AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY IN PREPARATION FOR THE INDY 500

1)           Takuma Sato                  229.439 mph                  
11)        Jack Harvey                     226.895 mph                  
13)        Graham Rahal                 226.716 mph                  
31)        Katherine Legge             224.461 mph
32)        Christian Lundgaard      224.300 mph    

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 United Rentals Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Day one has come to a close here or our day one as it was supposed to be day two for Indy. It was a solid day. We did some qualifying sims early that seemed okay. We’ve got a little bit of speed to find for sure there. Then at the end of the day we just focused on race running. The positive is that we made really good gains with the car and ended up 13th on the time charts. We didn’t have the sixth gear or the gearing period to do some of the speeds that the other guys did. You know I thought we did some good gains there we just need to see. Tomorrow, I think we’ll go more towards Jack’s setup. He seems very happy and let’s see where we can get the United Rentals car from there.”

  • FAST FACTS: Will be his 16th 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 15th in series standings with 86 points.

JACK HARVEY, No. 30 PeopleReady Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was a significantly better day than what we had at the open test. We’re just doing better in about every way. I thought our Q (qualifying) sim seemed productive. I thought our race running was a lot better and yeah just a significantly better day than when we were at the open test. I think overall we can put this in the good day category. And you need these good days to start the month of May in a positive way.”

  • FAST FACTS: The race will mark the seventh 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 53 points. 

KATHERINE LEGGE, No. 44 Hendrickson Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I felt like today went relatively well. It doesn’t show it on the times so I think we’re more like P14 in ‘no tow’ times. I think that’s pretty representative. We spent a good amount of time feeling not so comfortable and a little bit loose and scarring myself and the guys did an awesome job dialing that out. At the end of the day, I was super happy with the car. I wish I had gotten to go play with the rest of them in traffic but it’s better that we get everything fixed now and we can go do that later in the week.”

  • FAST FACTS: Will attempt to qualify for her third Indy 500 after having competed here in the race in 2012 and 2013, where she finished 22nd and 26th, respectively. Legge drove an Indy car for the first time since 2013 at a test at Texas Motor Speedway on April 3 and has spent a lot of time at the team’s shop preparing for the event.

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD, No. 45 Hy-Vee Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We’re finally back out at the Speedway. Just looking at my arms, my right arm is bigger than my left arm. I don’t think the position really matters today, as you see the big tow times at the end of the day. I feel like we’re a bit stronger on the no-tow times. So, I’m not too concerned at this point. We found a few things and small changes had a big impact.” 

  • FAST FACTS: This will be Lundgaard’s second Indy 500. He started 31st and finished 18th last year while becoming the first Dane driver in the race… His highest series start is POLE in the previous race here and his highest finish is second in Race 2 at the IMS road course in 2022… He is ranked in 9th place in the point standings with 111.

NEXT UP: Practice will resume tomorrow from 12-6 p.m. ET. Get a behind-the-scenes look at preparations for the 107th Indianapolis 500 via the Digital Ally Garage Camera on www.rahal.com.