Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing PR

Legge, Rahal, Harvey and Lundgaard: Indianapolis 500 Qualifying

Posted on by Patrick Stephan

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing107th Running of the Indianapolis 500
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
QUALIFYING NOTES/QUOTES – Saturday, May 20, 2023


LEGGE QUALIFIED 30TH FOR HER THIRD INDY 500; RAHAL, HARVEY AND LUNDGAARD TO MAKE QUALIFYING ATTEMPTS SUNDAY  

QUALIFYING SPEEDS
1st:        Felix Rosenqvist                4-lap avg. speed of 233.947 mph             
30th:      Katherine Legge                4-lap avg. speed of 231.070 mph

n/a:        Christian Lundgaard          4-lap avg. speed of 231.056 mph             
n/a:        Jack Harvey                       4-lap avg. speed of 230.098 mph             
n/a:        Graham Rahal                   4-lap avg. speed of 229.999 mph             

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 United Rentals Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It’s a disappointing day to not be able to find more speed and sneak in there. We’ve just got to put our heads down tonight and try to find the speed necessary to sneak into the bottom three. It’s going to be tight. Jack and I are very equal it seems.”

  • FAST FACTS: Made four qualifying attempts… 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’s been a weird week. The first two days started out very good and then our lack of speed reared it’s head on Fast Friday. Sometimes you don’t know where you stack up until everyone is out there on the same program. We have worked very hard to find the speed but have not been able to make a big enough impact yet. We will continue to work on that tonight and come out fighting tomorrow.”

  • FAST FACTS: Made three qualifying attempts… 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: (After her qualifying run🙂 “I can exhale a little bit now. My hands are still shaking. It’s just so much pressure. Come on, there’s nothing like it in the world. (After being ready to make a second run at the end of the day:) It was a bit stressful because I was out of time and we were getting ready to go do the same thing again if they were quicker and honestly we were out of time and we were at the mercy of the gods. Thankfully they were with me today. So was the Hendrickson Honda crew who did an awesome job getting me out there, getting me flat (on the accelerator) and getting me comfortable out there. So, now we will work on the race car and show what we’ve got.” 

  • FAST FACTS: Made one attempt and qualified for her third Indy 500 in 30th place… 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 have basically covered the whole board on options. We have looked at every area that we track, that we can do different to extract more pace but we simply haven’t found the speed. I think there’s something in the cars that we need to identify for next time but I don’t think we are going to be able to find it here. Right now we’re working on getting in the show.”

  • FAST FACTS: Made four qualifying attempts today… This is 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: Qualifying will resume Sunday to set the final starting positions of the top 12 and positions 31-33. Get a behind-the-scenes look at preparations for the 106th Indianapolis 500 via the Digital Ally Garage Camera on www.rahal.com.