Graham Rahal Tag

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer The 2018 Rolex 24 at Daytona has achieved star power status with world championship-caliber drivers and manufacturers in the Prototype ranks in the second year of the DPi/LMP2 rules package. (what is a DPi? https://www.imsa.com/qa-2017-daytona-prototype-international-dpi-concept) The entry list has four manufacturers in the DPi ranks with Nissan (two cars), Mazda (two cars), Acura (two cars) and Cadillac (four cars) going up against 10 LMP2 cars from Oreca (six cars), Riley/Multimatic (one car) and Ligier (three cars). Let’s look at the Prototype portion of the entry listRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer Motorsports Tribune reviews the season of the top 10 drivers from the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series championship. Our list continues with the sixth-place championship finisher, Graham Rahal. Graham Rahal, No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 2017: 6th in the championship Wins: 2, Top 5: 6, Top 10: 12, Poles: 1, Laps Led: 110 Best Finish: 1st – Two times (Detroit Race 1, Detroit Race 2) 2017 was a year of two halves for Graham Rahal and the dividing line was JuneRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer After a Verizon IndyCar Series season filled with highs and lows, let’s look at some of the more memorable moments in 2017 both on and off track. 10. New teams on the horizon The year witnessed two new teams in the series with Juncos Racing and Harding Racing making their debuts at the Indianapolis 500. Ricardo Juncos has been a Mazda Road to Indy stalwart for the past few seasons and after returning to Indy Lights competition in 2015, the Speedway, Indiana-basedRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer In preparation for the final round of the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series at Sonoma Raceway, practice for the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma came to a close with the final session on Saturday. 2016 IndyCar champion Simon Pagenaud turned the fastest lap on the 2.385 mile road course in Saturday’s third practice session with a fastest lap of 1:16.0329 ahead of second place Scott Dixon’s lap of 1:16.1454. Championship contenders Will Power, Josef Newgarden and Helio Castroneves were third through fifth andRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing today announced that Indy Lights driver Zachary Claman DeMelo will make his Verizon IndyCar Series debut at the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma on September 17th. In anticipation of a multi-car effort for next season, RLLR will have Claman De Melo pilot the No. 16 Honda sponsored by Paysafe as a teammate to the team’s full time driver Graham Rahal. “I’m thrilled to be driving for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing for my (Verizon) IndyCar Series debut at theRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — After a season of qualifying frustration on the road and street courses, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Charlie Kimball had his best road course qualifying of the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season at Watkins Glen International by qualifying fifth ahead of Sunday’s INDYCAR Grand Prix at the Glen. Kimball advanced out of the first group in round one, beating out Spencer Pigot, Ed Jones, Tony Kanaan, Max Chilton and JR Hildebrand. In round two, Kimball was able to get himselfRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — After setting the third fastest time in Friday’s two practice sessions and the seventh fastest time in Saturday’s third practice session, Graham Rahal was only able to qualify his No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda tenth fastest ahead of Sunday’s INDYCAR Grand Prix at the Glen at Watkins Glen International. Rahal got through group two in the first round of qualifying to advance to round two but his fastest lap of 1:23.2240 was not enough to getRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Friday practice has concluded for the INDYCAR Grand Prix at the Glen, the penultimate Verizon IndyCar Series race of the season and Honda came up with the fastest times of the day in both sessions. In the opening practice session, Honda had the top five cars as Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Graham Rahal went fastest with a lap of 1:23.2603 seconds, averaging 145.712 mph around the 3.37 mile natural terrain road course. Second fastest was Andretti Herta Autosport’s AlexanderRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer MADISON, Illinois — He led when the race went green and an aggressive move later made all the difference as Josef Newgarden earned his third Verizon IndyCar Series victory in the last four races as he took the checkered flag in the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at Gateway Motorsports Park on Saturday night. The race started under yellow as Tony Kanaan spun on the pace lap in Turn 2 from his 17th starting position. When the green flag came out, Newgarden tookRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer After being a lap down and needing both his front and rear wings changed, Will Power managed to turn an off-strategy run into another Verizon IndyCar Series win at Sunday’s ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway. Tony Kanaan led the first lap as the field had many drivers gaining or losing several positions in the first ten laps. Helio Castroneves gained ten positions very quickly while Josef Newgarden gained eight positions in the first seven laps. However, Castroneves faded to 13th byRead More