Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing head home to the Mid-Ohio Sportscar course this weekend fot the Honda Indy 200.
Graham Rahal has fond memories of his home track having won here in 2015.
Looking ahead to the race this weekend he says:
“I’m looking forward to going back to my home race. It’s always great to see all the support for the Rahal’s there. It’s also great to see dad get honored there on the 40th anniversary of his INDYCAR win. I know how much the place means to him and the Rahal family – more than anywhere else. I know people automatically assume that it would be Indianapolis, but Mid-Ohio really is where all of our love for the sport grew. It will be great weekend to have everybody together. Starting on the front row there two years ago was pretty darn cool. And I do think that we’ve improved since then and do think that we will be better this weekend than we have been. We had race pace then too that weekend but unfortunately had a bad pit stop that put us behind. Hopefully we will have a trouble-free race and have an even better day. I expect us to be competitive in qualifying and I’m looking forward to that. Race wise, it’s going to be extremely hot this weekend. I’m hopeful that we can have a good, strong day. Mid-Ohio tests everybody to the core. It will be extremely tough and physical and hopefully we can put the Fifth Third Bank car up front.”
Team co-owner Bobby Rahal commented on being named the Grand Marshal for the event saying:
“It’s a great honor to be the Grand Marshal for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. Mid-Ohio played an important role in my personal and professional life. I went to the first ever race there with my father in 1962 and made annual trips there after that, sometimes twice a year. I got my first win at Mid-Ohio in my SCCA class in 1974, won both IROC races I competed in there, won the Lumberman’s race and of course the two INDYCAR races in 1985 and 1986. Being by Trueman’s side when he bought the track in 1980 and winning the IMSA race with him in 1983 as well as winning the INDYCAR races there and seeing Graham win there in 2015 are some of my greatest memories at one of my favorite tracks. It was a privilege to drive on such as great circuit all those years.”
This weekend is Devlin DeFrancesco’s third start at the Mid-Ohio Sportscar course and speaking about the race he says:
We’ve been fast most places we’ve gone to this year, especially on the road courses. I see no reason why we can’t be fast and fighting at the front here. It will all come down the execution, getting a gap in qualifying and going for it. Race wise a clean day should get us a solid result on the No. 30 EVTEC car. Our group deserves it after all the work that’s gone in from everyone. Mid-Ohio is a tricky place; the lap times are always very close. It is very much a rhythm type track. Ninety laps at this place with not much rest will definitely be physical! I have no doubt the No. 30 team is competitive enough to be fighting at the front. We need to execute starting from Practice 1. Knowing we have a strong car, and team is half the battle. It’s up to us to put it together and execute. Qualifying will be important here as overtaking is for sure harder than Road America.”
Louis Foster in the No.45 Droplight Desnuda Tequila RLL Honda is looking forward to his first INDYCAR race at Mid-Ohio Sportscar course this weekend while also reflecting on his maiden NTT P1 Award at Road America last time out.
Obviously, it was super, super cool to win my first pole at Road America and I’m proud to be able to do that for the boys. I think the biggest thing for me about that is just showing how well the guys were able to put the Droplight / Desnuda Tequila Honda back together. They didn’t have a lot of time to turn it around and they did a really good job. Like I said at the time, the pole is dedicated to them for all the hard work that they’ve been doing. It wasn’t something that I expected to do in my rookie season, for sure. It was definitely always a target, and I wanted to try and do it, but it wasn’t something I expected to do. Deep down I thought it was doable, especially after our performance at the road courses.
“I think we’ve got a very strong package on the road courses right now. We just bluntly need to be able to convert that into good results in the race. Qualifying up front is amazing and all, but we need to figure out how to stay there. And then once we do that, we need to figure out how to do that consistently. The target is always moving. We’ve just got to work hard at it. There is a lot of work going on behind the scenes to try and figure that out and make sure that we’re right. We’ve reviewed Road America, we know what to do better. It’s all about executing and applying that knowledge.
“It’s going to be hot. It’s going to suck, simple as that. It will be just as hot as Road America and it’s twice as physical so I’m going to be pretty hot come race day for sure. Everyone has to deal with it, so it is what it is. You’ve got to be hydrated, make sure you’re fit and healthy. I felt comfortable being up front in Road America. That’s what I been used to my whole career. Starting in the middle of the pack of 17 or more cars is not something I’m used to. I was very comfortable up at the front and enjoyed that experience because I knew what I was doing in a way. We didn’t have the pace to be able to stay up front unfortunately but it was a good experience to see what it was like to race with some of those guys up there. To be honest, it wasn’t any different to what I’ve experience before. It kind of felt like last season again in a way. I hope we have a good qualifying. I think that’s going to be the key factor for the race initially and then make sure we execute for the race. It will be a long hot race so I just need to make sure I’m hydrated and ready to go and also the pit crew because it will be a long hot one for them too. We will all work hard to make sure we can realistically bring home a solid top-10 or top-five results. That needs to be our target from now on until the rest of the year.”