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St. Petersburg: Newman/Haas/Lanigan IRL IndyCar Race Recap - Rahal Bounces Back
Graham Rahal, No. 02 McDonald’s Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The race started bad right from the beginning for the McDonald’s team. I was conservative on the start and I’m guessing it was Kanaan that punted me. It’s absolutely ridiculous and you would expect a guy like that with experience to know it’s the first corner of the first lap of the first race of the season. Why make moves like that? From there it was just battling back all day trying to find a way to get the car back up to the front. We certainly inched away at it to get back up to seventh from last place and I’m pretty happy with that but I think the results should have, and could have been better. Our race car was pretty good but it could have been better. The tires were really good but they wore out towards the end of a stint. One was out of balance and started vibrating like crazy. On one set of tires near the end of the stint the car didn’t want to turn right what so ever and I lost a lot of positions. I was supposed to come in one lap later but I said ‘Hey, I have to come in now.’ It had been that way for about 10 laps. We had a couple of little issues here and there but we made it to the end.”
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• FAST FACTS: Was his second race here. Became the youngest winner in series history when he drove to victory in his IndyCar Series debut in St. Pete in 2008 at the age of 19 years and 93 days old last year. Made history again today when he became the youngest pole sitter in series history at 20 years, 90 days old. The previous record was held by Marco Andretti at 21 years and 79 days old when he narrowly beat Rahal for pole at Milwaukee in 2008 (2/10ths of a second over four lap avg). Here last year -- Rahal had only run 10 laps at testing speed in an ICS car on a road course (Sebring) due to a pre-race three hour test (4-1) being cancelled due to rain. Was fast all weekend last year but started 9th due to being unable to get a clear lap in qualifying. The race started in wet conditions last year and once the green flag flew he progressed to third place before his first pit stop in a race that saw multiple pit strategies. He was hit on Lap 37 by W. Power which caused a spin and he dropped to 23rd but the team elected to gamble and keep him on track while others pit on Lap 60 under caution and he moved into second before the restart on Lap 65 and took the lead and held it through two more restarts including one with three laps to go while holding off two-time St. Pete winner Castroneves and Kanaan. He won by a 3.5 second margin to become the youngest winner in series history after he led a total of 19 of the 83 laps…Rahal earned the first Indy car win for a driver transitioning from Champ Car in 2008 and his teammate Wilson earned the only other in Detroit.
Robert Doornbos, No. 06 Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was a very hectic weekend. Normally when I make my debut I finish on the podium so it’s a shame we cannot hold that up here. We worked very hard this weekend and learned a lot. Starting 13th we knew it was going to be a long afternoon, but anything can happen in Indy car racing. We had a reasonably good first stint but we had to come in early because of a flat spot. In the end it turned out not so bad because it was a good pit stop by the boys and we got out in seventh or something. Then we raced well and raced hard. I made a mistake with the marbles. There were so many marbles on my tires that on the restart I was dropping like a rock. I had no grip whatsoever. I had saved too much fuel and didn’t warm up the tires so it was a bit of a mistake. On the second restart I made sure that didn’t happen again and passed three or four cars on the restart and went from 10th to sixth or seventh. And then I tried to pass Wheldon because I knew I could have him at the restart again because he was on blacks and I was on reds that had more grip. I went on the inside and got past him and then I think he had nowhere to go and he clipped my rear tire when I was in front. The car jumped up in the air and when it landed it bent the wishbone. I have to say thank you to the boys for getting me out again. They worked hard in the heat to replace the wishbone and I finished three places ahead of where I would have been. Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing will regroup for Long Beach and we will be very strong.”
• FAST FACTS: Will make his debut in the series and with NHLR in St. Pete after having competed against the team in the 2007 Champ Car World Series (CCWS)…Has competed against fellow ICS drivers Marco Andretti (A1GP), Danica Patrick (Formula Ford), Ryan Briscoe (F3) and E.J. Viso (F3000).
PaddockTalk Perspective
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Also in IRL Weekend Team Reports: |
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