FIVE PODIUMS AND ONE POLE IN TORONTO FOR RLL
The 2023 Honda Indy Toronto will mark the 22nd year of Indy car racing for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) here and second since 2019 due to the pandemic. The team also competed in the Atlantic Series races here in 2003 and 2004. The team earned a total of four second place finishes (Rahal 1992, 1994, 1995; Michel Jourdain Jr. 2003) and best start was pole in 1992 by Bobby Rahal. Prior to the 2023 event, the team prepared a total of 38 Indy car entries for drivers Bobby Rahal (1992-98), Mike Groff (1994), Raul Boesel (1995), Bryan Herta (1996-99), Max Papis (1999-2001), Jimmy Vasser (2002), Michel Jourdain Jr. (2002-03), Takuma Sato (2012, 2018-19), Graham Rahal (2013 x 2; 2014 x2; 2015-2019, ‘22), James Jakes (2013 x 2), Luca Filippi (2014 x2), Christian Lundgaard (’22) and Jack Harvey (’22). RLL also prepared three Toyota Atlantic entries (Danica Patrick 2003-2004; Chris Festa 2004). In total, the team has earned FIVE podiums (3rd – Rahal 1996), 10 top-five’s and 21 top-10 finishes at the track. The No. 15 United Rentals entry for Graham Rahal, the No. 30 HUB International entry for Jack Harvey and No. 45 Hy-Vee entry for Christian Lundgaard will bring the Indy car total to 41 in 2023.
GRAHAM RAHAL AT TORONTO
The 2023 Honda Indy Toronto will be Graham Rahal’s 16th Indy car race here and 17th overall (Atlantic 2006). In 15 Indy car races, his best start of second came in 2017 with RLL and best finish of fourth came last year. He has three, top-five starts and six, top-10 finishes. He is looking forward to carrying the momentum that saw him earn a front row start at the previous race in Mid-Ohio – his home event.
“It was great to finish in the top four last year. The team had been working really hard to improve, and had just come from a test at Sebring, where we found some good stuff and then showed the improvement at Toronto so it was especially rewarding for everyone to be able to finish fourth. This year is going to be about the same for us as we’ve struggled on street courses so it will be an important event for us to see if we can not only carry over some momentum from qualifying up front at Mid-Ohio but also see if we can develop some new setups on the street courses. We will take a mindset similar to what we had last year and try to improve upon it in some areas. I’ve heard the track was repaved in some areas so we’ll see what kind of effect it has on us and go from there. It’s a huge race for our team and a critical market for the INDYCAR SERIES to race in so we want to go there and put on a good show and get the United Rentals team a strong result. I have always loved racing and vacationing in Canada and am looking forward to getting back there.”
JACK AND TORONTO
The 2023 Honda Indy Toronto will mark Jack’s second time to compete in the INDYCAR SERIES race here. Last year, he started 13th but had problems on both of his pit stops and finished 19th. He competed here in 2014 in Indy Lights where he started fourth and finished third. And also competed in the doubleheader here in 2015 where he started fourth in Race 1 and fifth in Race 2 and finished second in both. He had a car that he felt was capable of a top-10 finish last year so he is hoping to improve upon that this year and bring home a strong result.
“Our pace was good last year but we had a couple of bad stops that hurt us in the race but the guys are nailing pit stops recently, especially on the 30 car. I think we’ve improved our street course package from last year. Even in Detroit, we showed really good pace in the race. I like Toronto; it’s a fun city and one of my favorite cities that we get to race in. The track is great and I’m pretty optimistic for a good weekend. The HUB International car looks awesome. I’ve got to say, it’s up there with my favorite liveries of the year. It looks excellent.”
CHRISTIAN AND TORONTO
Lundgaard returns to the streets of Toronto for his second race here. Last year, he started 10th and climbed as high as fifth before his first of two stops on Lap 17. He made his second stop with the majority of the field during the second of four caution periods on Lap 47 and returned to the track 12th. He gained more positions when a few drivers made their final stop and others made contact. He took the checkered flag in eighth place for his highest career INDYCAR finish to date at that point. He hopes to carry the current momentum of strong runs on road courses to the Honda Indy Toronto.
“Overall, I’m looking forward to going to Toronto because of the momentum we’re carrying right now as a team. The 45 Hy-Vee crew has been up front the past few races and Graham was there in qualifying at Mid-Ohio. We haven’t seen the same amount of improvement on street circuits this year so far so I’m looking forward to seeing if we can turn that around. Toronto is the race we turned it around last year, so I do feel like we’ve got a good chance. Obviously, looking at that race last year, it was our best start of the year so far at that point and the first yellow that fell didn’t really fall in our favor. We also had a slow stop on our first stop and we lost four seconds and the crew has been killing it (on pit stops) this year so I’m pretty confident that we can do well this weekend. We have a good pit box as well which is nice. We will try to carry the momentum that we have and see if we can make some performance gains on a street circuit and get the Hy-Vee / VIVID Clear RX car on the top of the podium.”
POINTS BATTLE AFTER 9 OF 17 RACES
Heading into Round 10 of 17 at the Honda Indy Toronto, Lundgaard has a total of 194 points and is ranked 10th overall. Rahal is ranked 14th with 145 and Harvey is 23rd with 95.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL)
