Rahal Podiums at Road America

Graham Rahal, driver of the No. 15 Gehl/D-A Lubricant Honda, finished the Kohler Grand Prix of Road America at Road America on the podium in third place.

Rahal stated it was a good race for the team overall as they had a good start which led to a good first stint where they were able to get up a little further and make passes, like the one he made around Simon Pagenaud. He noted it could’ve been better as their tire strategy might have been a little wrong, starting the race on new reds when they probably should have started on used ones and saved the new for another stint. 

“But all in all, a solid day, good finish, good points,” Rahal said. “We needed that. I think we had a really good car, particularly on the new reds our car was really nice, and at the end there it was also pretty good. We tried our best. We were underneath Kanaan there, but unfortunately it looks like their cars have a little more top speed than us, so we just kind of got left behind. But that happens.

“We’re just going to have to keep our heads down, keep working hard, and try to bounce back and get a good result in Iowa, as well. For us and our year, I think this is pretty big because we’ve been fast everywhere, it’s just we’ve had a lot of stuff go against us. To get a podium felt nice.”

The Columbus, Ohio native thinks the racing at Road America was good and competitive. Pagenaud and him were battling pretty intensively for like 20 laps or so, leaving Rahal with the impression he was right behind him every turn so he gave every ounce he possibly could to keep his position.

“There was sections of the track I was better than him and sections that he clearly had me,” Rahal quoted. “I think Canada Corner I was weak all weekend and that proved to be true again. But again, we just battled hard, and I had a good day. I think the tire strategy hurt us there. I think that’s how Pagenaud really got back around us is we just made the wrong tire call and it definitely hurt, but it is what it is, and we still came out of here in third.”

The three-time IndyCar race winner’s weekend didn’t start off very well as the American driver only got eight or nine laps in during the practices on Friday. However, he came back on Saturday and qualified for the race putting the car in the sixth starting position.

“It was a tough start, but our team is very resilient group and they’re a great group,” Rahal added. “I think they’re the best mechanics and I think they’re the best organization out here, period. The resources we have certainly aren’t what others have, but we do a phenomenal job with what we have, so I’m very proud of them, and they continue to impress me each and every day and I think impress everybody.”