Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing had a really solid Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach in California on Sunday.
Graham Rahal in the No.15 United Rentals Honda started the race from near the back in 24th and finished the 85 lap race in P12 and speaking following the action he said:
The United Rentals guys did a great job in the pits today. Honestly, that first yellow on Lap 20 really hurt our strategy though. We needed it to go green the full distance of the stint to really penalize the guys that started on the alternate tires and instead it (caution for Dixon) kind of saved them. We still did a great job I thought. I think we passed five or six guys in the first 20 laps and were able to get ourselves up into contention with Christian and Jack and people like that. And from there we just went to battle the rest of the race. We stayed out a lap longer before our last stop and when we did that we were able to just basically jump those guys and gain a few spots. We’ll take the $4,250 raised for Turns for Troops and move on to the next one.”
Jack Harvey in the No.30 Kustom Entertainment Honda started the race from 15th and came home in P13, his best Long Beach result in four starts here.
I think on the whole the race played out okay. I think the yellow coming out when it did it absolutely just killed our strategy today. I think it kind of hurt Graham too. It was too late in that stint to be able to go any longer. So, then we had a full red (alternate Firestone tires) stint which really kind of hurt us. We had one bobble in pit lane but honestly apart from that we were trending in the right direction. The No. 30 Kustom Entertainment car felt like it had some good pace and collectively we finished 12, 13, 14 so we’re trending in the right direction. I just want to keep turning that direction.”
Christian Lundgaard in the No.45 Hy-Vee Honda started the race from 17th and came home in P14 and speaking following the action he commented saying:
Well, the race itself was a little frustrating. I think the green (alternate) tires went off as we expected in terms of degradation and balance. So, that was sort of expected but I think it was a little worse than we did expect though so it was just a long race. I feel like the pace was alright at certain points in the race but the car is too unpredictable to drive fast enough. We had a big moment at the end of the race which is why Jack got past. But in terms of that I am happy the car is in one piece. So now we will go to the first road course of the season (Barber Motorsports Park) and I think we have a strong package there. At least we did last year so that’s what we’ve got to continue with.”
Next up is the two day open test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where Katherine Legge will join the team in the No.44 Hendrickson Honda.