Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal in the No.15 United Rentals Honda is looking forward to this weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, the second street circuit event of the season.
Rahal’s best start here was 5th in 2007 while he best finish was second in 2013.
“In St. Pete, I thought we vastly improved between qualifying and the race. Particularly in the race, I thought we were pretty competitive so I feel good about where we stand going into Long Beach. I think there is a lot still to be found and gained as a team and I think our competitiveness should increase even compared to St Pete. There is always a lot of pressure when you go to Long Beach, it’s a big race — probably the second biggest of the year behind Indy and it’s an important one to do well in. There are obviously challenges on race day with the hairpin and all of that. You’ve got to be smart, drive wise, leave some space and making sure you stay out of trouble is key. You also have one of the longest straightaways in all of street course racing down the front straight. It’s a demanding track that hasn’t changed much over the years so it’s a known quantity but has always been a big challenge for everybody. I just think it’s a huge, huge event for our sport. For the people that go, it’s a tradition. The Acura GP of Long Beach, in southern California, is a known quantity and 100’s of thousands come throughout the weekend to enjoy it and certainly I’d like to get a Rahal on the top step of the podium. A Rahal has been second five times so it would be good to get one step higher there for sure.
“We’ve got to do everything correctly in order to get on the top step. We’ve improved but we’ve got to continue to close the gap to some of these other teams and find a little bit more. I expect there to be a handful of guys that will be extremely strong this weekend and we’ve go to do what we can to make the best of it.”
Jack Harvey in the No.30 Kustom Entertainment Honda is looking forward to this weekend’s race saying:
Everyone is excited for the Long Beach race. It’s one of the races at the start of the year that people just really look forward to. The track and the area are really fun places to be. I’m extra excited this weekend because I’m celebrating my 30th birthday while driving the No. 30 Kustom Entertainment car, which is pretty awesome if you think about it. From a performance stance, last year we showed we had decent race pace. I think we’ve improved our street circuit package, which we saw in St. Pete so hopefully we just continue that package forward. It’s a new week full of new opportunities and I think we’re going to the track with maximum positivity and optimism I’m excited to get back on track in Long Beach.”
Christian Lundgaard in the No.45 Hy-Vee Honda is looking forward to making his second Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach outing and speaking ahead of the race he commented saying:
I’m looking forward to Long Beach. It’s one of the greatest events throughout the season in my opinion. Driving near the ocean with palm trees lining the course is a perfect backdrop. We’re going there with the intent to improve our package and get the best result we can. I think last year was a little bit of a clear read where we were performance wise so it’s a good baseline for us to back up and see if we can see how much we’ve improved from 2022 to 2023. Overall, I’m looking forward to the weekend, I think it’s going to be a fun one. Looking at our progression off the track, I think we’ll see some improvements. We’ve just got to go out there and do it and put the Hy-Vee car up front.”