Graham Rahal, No. 02 McDonald’s Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I really enjoy this track. The McDonald’s car has been working well since the second we showed up. I’m definitely happy with that; I couldn’t ask for much more. We’re working hard. Obviously we still have room to develop but we’re competitive and that’s where we want to be. It would be great to get a win this year – that’s the biggest thing. And there is a great opportunity for us here since the car has been good since we showed up.”
FAST FACTS: Will be his first race here but came with his father, Bobby, in 1999 as a spectator…Highest start this season is two poles (St. Pete/street & Kansas/oval) and highest finish is third place at Richmond…Is ranked 8th in series points with 331 (only -32 to Patrick, 353).
Oriol Servia, No. 06 Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The car improved so much between the practice session and qualifying. The car had more in it than I was able to get out of it. Every lap I pushed more and more but I never got to the limit of the car even on the last lap so I’m pretty confident that there was a faster lap in the car. I’m not sure if the track was a lot better or we made the right changes. I am with a great team so I have to say they made the right changes. The good thing though is that tomorrow I have 200 laps to reach the potential. It feels like I have a great car under me and that’s what we need to be consistent and get to the front tomorrow”
FAST FACTS: Will be his fourth race here. In 2000 he competed in only his third oval race as a rookie in CART’s headline series where he started 13th and finished 24th with PPI Motorsports. In 2001 he started 18th and finished 14th with Sigma Autosport. In 2002 he started 20th and earned his highest finish here of sixth place with PWR Championship Racing…At the previous oval race in Chicago he ran as high as third and finished seventh. In his two oval races with NHR in 2005 as the replacement for the injured Junqueira, he finished on the podium both times (third in Milwaukee, second in Las Vegas)…After only four races this season, he is ranked 24th with 83 points.
NHLR AT MOTEGI: In total the team has earned ONE WIN (Mi. Andretti 2000), and TWO PODIUMS (3rd- Fittipaldi 1999) in their five previous races here.
Tune In… The race will be broadcast live on VERSUS Friday, September 18 at 10:30 p.m. EDT while the qualifying show will also air on Saturday at 6 p.m. The radio broadcast of the race will be carried on www.indycar.com. As always, fans can follow the action from every on-track session via the official website of the IndyCar Series, www.indycar.com.
