DUAL 1 - Saturday, June 1, 2013
RAHAL CLIMBED 14 SPOTS IN DUEL 1 OF THE CHEVROLET INDY DUELS IN DETROIT TO FINISH 9TH
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Midas / Big O Tires Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "Obviously I'm happy with the finishing result. You always want to finish higher up but some days you've got to take what you can get. The Midas / Big O Tires guys worked awfully hard, we had good stops and ultimately we got ourselves a top-10. It was a good day for the team overall. Clearly we need to keep working but I'm pretty happy with where we finished relative to where we started.
(On if there was something from today that can be applied to tomorrow's race:) "Without a doubt I think that set-up wise we are going to learn quite a lot overnight here. There are a lot of things that we can work on to make the car a little bit better but overall I am pretty pleased.
(On physical demands of duel races:) "It's a tough race, there's no doubt about that. I feel all right but everybody is going to want their rest tonight."
· FAST FACTS: Was his third Indy car race here. He qualified 14th yesterday for Duel 1 but started 23rd due to an unapproved engine change at Indy. He gained three spots on the opening lap and another two on the first restart on Lap 4. The team elected for an alternate strategy and he made his first stop earlier than others on Lap 10. The timing of the caution flags worked out and Rahal was able to climb 14 spots to finish ninth. He will start 15th in Duel 2 on Sunday… He qualified seventh with Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing in 2012 but had a 10-grid penalty for an unapproved engine change and started 17. He was eighth when he made his final stop on Lap 45/60 but during the red flag stop to repair the track, a clutch problem surfaced and he was unable to continue and retired in 19th place. In 2008 he drove for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing and progressed to the Firestone Fast Six in qualifying for the first time in his series career and qualified sixth. The team chose the same pit strategy as then race leader Dixon which almost worked but a late race fourth caution botched the plan and he had to stop for a splash of fuel with three laps to go and dropped to 13th… His best finish this season is second place in Long Beach and best start is 11th also in Long Beach… Is ranked 16th in series standings with 104 points.
DUAL 2 - Saturday, June 2, 2013
RAHAL FINISHED NINTHIN DUAL 2 OF THE CHEVROLET INDY DUALS IN DETROIT
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Midas / Big O Tires Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "It was a busy race. On the initial start I was the series punching bag; I got hit by about 10 guys and pushed backwards. And the car just didn't really come to me until a few laps in. Unfortunately it kept going yellow and we barely got any clear running. When we got up and running, we tried a different strategy to make up a little bit of time and initially it was working but with all of the yellows that came out, everybody ended up doing a similar sort of thing. By no means am I upset with where we finished but certainly this weekend has been a difficult weekend for all of us. James (Jakes) did a great job and we scored two top-10's but we need to find a better balance in our cars, not only here but the ovals and everything."
· FAST FACTS: He started 15th and drove to a 9th place finish today. He started 23rd in Dual 1, climbed 14 spots and finished 9th... He qualified seventh with Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing in 2012 but had a 10-grid penalty for an unapproved engine change and started 17. He was eighth when he made his final stop on Lap 45/60 but during the red flag stop to repair the track, a clutch problem surfaced and he was unable to continue and retired in 19th place. In 2008 he drove for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing and progressed to the Firestone Fast Six in qualifying for the first time in his series career and qualified sixth. The team chose the same pit strategy as then race leader Dixon which almost worked but a late race fourth caution botched the plan and he had to stop for a splash of fuel with three laps to go and dropped to 13th… His best finish this season is second place in Long Beach and best start is 11th also in Long Beach… Is ranked 14th in series standings with 126 points.