Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal in the No.15 One Cure Honda says he looks forward to this weekend’s race at Barber Motorsports Park. The team will be aiming to put what they learned from their test here last month during a test to good use.
“I’m looking forward to going to Barber. We’ve always had a good run there with One Cure. We need to get a little more speed out of the car from where we were last year but we had a good test there and I feel positive about some of the improvements we’ve made and some of the gains that are there to be had. Fingers crossed we’ll go there and be competitive with all three cars and be able to run up front. It’s a race where there is a lot of tire degradation – it’s wacky in that regard and very physical as well. I hope that that allows us to rise to the top and be super competitive in the race as well with the tire degradation. I always enjoy going there, always enjoy racing there. It is a different vibe and a different feel than most anywhere else we race. The southern hospitality is always awesome and we’re looking forward to being back.”
Jack Harvey in the No.30 AMADA Honda heads to Barber Motorsports Park, aiming to create some more great memories following strong results here in the past. Harvey is also looking to build on his and the No.30 crew’s momentum from their top-ten finish last time out in Long Beach.
“Barber is just a fantastic road course. It’s a beautiful setting. They look after the track to keep it immaculate year round. It’s got a nice balance of some low-speed corners, some high-speed corners and it has a lot of elevation change. I’m pretty optimistic about what our road course car is going to be, performance wise. We didn’t get the result we wanted at St. Pete (street course) but the potential was there. That looked like it was going to be a top-10 day and I really felt like minus that little bobble we had in pit lane in Long Beach, we could have been in the top-10 there too. So, starting the first three races with two potential top-10’s feels like there is some good momentum with us. We’re building it and just want to keep it going. It would be nice to be on pole and try to win in Barber but as long as we keep that momentum going for as long as we can, we will get there. There is a nice atmosphere with everyone at RLL about where we are going and everyone seems along for the hard work and the journey ahead of us. I feel like Barber is a great first road course for us this season and I’m excited to get back on one.”
Christian Lundgaard in the No.45 Hy-Vee Honda says he is always super excited to return to the scene where had his first ever NTT INDYCAR SERIES experience, and looking ahead to the race this weekend he says:
“Barber was the first ever track I drove on in an Indy car so I’m always super excited to get back there. I think our test there earlier this season went pretty well. We found some positive changes on the car, so we’ve just got to execute with that on the race weekend. It’s one of the faster and more physical tracks and it’s a long race as well. We weren’t that lucky there last year with being held up in the pits as we were exiting our box. And as team, we struggled a bit earlier in the season so we hope to make up for that this year and get the Hy-Vee car up front.”