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Rahal: “I think we have a potential race winner”

Graham Rahal says he believes he can win the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500, and that the struggles of qualifying were a temporary aberration in low-downforce trim.

Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda

Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda

IndyCar Series

Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda
Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda
Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda
Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda
Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda
Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda
Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda with Bobby Rahal

Rahal will start the race 26th in the #15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda, but has always said that did not matter in a 500-mile race. His best finish at Indy, third in 2011, came after his worst qualifying position of 30th.

Explaining this year’s difficulties, Rahal said: “Our racecar has been good all week, really solid. The problem was that when we took the downforce off we had no mechanical balance and we were sliding around and struggling.

“But today going back to race downforce, it was really good. The first session we had our new engine fitted, and when you first run it in, they keep it detuned for a bit so we looked slow in the first outing. Second time out, we tried some stuff and it was not good, and then we had a left-rear upright fail, although it didn’t totally fall apart.

“Once we got that fixed and we were back out there, we ran on old tires, and I could pass everybody it seemed.”

The one hitch could be a tire issue that has plagued Rahal for the last eight days of practice.

He said: “Almost every set of tires I’ve had, the car develops a really bad vibration with about 10 laps to go on the run, which is concerning and we had that again today. We came in one last time and went out on sticker [new] tires and ran with everyone. Then they pitted and everyone else came on track and even with tires that had 10 laps on them already, again our car still felt very, very good and quick.

“So I’m pretty pleased with where we’re at, because the car seems to be reacting to everything we do.”

For the record, Rahal set a 224.5mph on the 64th of his 88 laps, which put him 19th out of 33 cars but added that the final timesheet from the session was largely irrelevant and couldn’t be taken out of context.

He stated: “We saw big lap times go up early on, soon after 12.30, when conditions were perfect, fresh tires, in the draft and so on. But that’s not realistic for how things will be on Sunday. I’m probably not the quickest guy out front, but with 30 laps on the tires I could still do a 222.8mph, and I don’t see anyone else doing that.

“If we could go out on Sunday with conditions just like this, I’d be a happy man because legitimately I felt there was no one around I couldn’t pass. I’ve never said that on the Monday before this thing. Even last year, it was really last-minute before we figured this thing out.

"Right now, I think we can just polish it, go to Carb Day and see what we’ve got.”

This year's race will mark the 30th anniversary of Rahal's father and team owner, Bobby, winning the Indy 500.

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