Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard in the No.45 Hy-Vee Honda starts tomorrow’s Children’s Grand Prix of Alabama here at Barber Motorsports Park from third place.
Speaking following the action he said:
Qualifying was a step up for us. We were in the mix from the first practice session in P5, P5 in Practice 2 and I think we just put ourselves in a good position for qualifying. We had a good baseline to work on from last year so I’m pretty happy with where we are. This was a race we were strong at last year which is where things turned around for us so I’m pretty satisfied to be up here. We started sixth and finished sixth here last year. If the trend is that we finish where we start then I’d happily take that right now. I’ve got to say thanks to the team, especially after St. Pete and Long Beach. As a team, we were quite strong in St. Pete but didn’t get anything out of it with the puncture on the first lap. In Long Beach, we just messed up. So, to come here and also have Graham up here all weekend as well is good. Let’s see what tomorrow brings for the Hy-Vee team. We’re looking forward to it.”
Graham Rahal in the No.15 Hendrickson Honda starts from seventh and speaking following the action he commented saying:
“We can’t seem to get the tire to come in (at its peak) on the first lap and I think the tire is at its peak on the first lap for most people. For me, it’s been the second lap. On the out lap you’re just cruising around. (On being unhappy getting out of his car:) I was just upset about some communication stuff. We had enough fuel to do one more lap, and I would have used that opportunity for sure but wasn’t told until I had already lifted to come in. Unfortunately, it’s really tight and fast here so obviously there is frustration because I think we’ve got a car that’s definitely capable of getting into the Fast Six so to not see it through is super disappointing. We’re seventh and the best of the rest in the sense that our tires only have one hard lap on them each and we also have a new set. When you get an opportunity like this (to qualify in the Fast Six and go for pole) it really is frustrating when you don’t quite see it all come together. Anything is a spot you can win from here. We’ll try to make that happen tomorrow for the Hendrickson team.”
Pietro Fittipaldi starts the race from 26th and speaking following the action he said:
Qualifying was tough with not getting any running in Practice 2 after the problem which really hurt us because it’s a rhythm track and you need rhythm to be able to maximize it. We knew qualifying was going to be tough; we maximized it but we just need to focus on the race now. We need to have a good warmup and have a really good race.”