INDIANAPOLIS – The Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing contingent survived bump day for the 102nd Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil., but it didn’t come without some anxious moments.
Two rain delays that sucked away nearly three precious hours of track time, limiting opportunities for those vying to make the field of 33. Eventually, all three team cars qualified but in what wound up disappointing consecutive spots on the provisional grid. Takuma Sato ranked 29th, Graham Rahal 30th and Oriol Servia 31st.
It was perhaps the tensest for Servia, who had to abandon his first two runs due to mechanical issues in the No. 64 Scuderia Corsa/Manitowoc Honda. The third time proved the charm. With 30 minutes remaining to qualify, the Spaniard strung together a four-lap run at 225.007 mph that was 31st fastest.
“It’s probably been the biggest roller coaster of my life, just today,” said Servia, the 43-year-old returning to Indy as a one-off driver again in a collaboration between the Scuderia Corsa sports car team and RLL. “We started the day (with) free practice in the morning. Track was green, usually it’s a little tricky those hours and the car was the best it’s been the whole month. Perfect.
“Then we went out in qualifying and I almost crashed on Lap 1. Thankfully, we saved it, came in. We made some changes and we thought we were going to be honestly pretty solid in the show. We didn’t take any risk. We put some downforce back in the car. We just wanted to make the show.”
Even after getting into the field, Servia wondered if it would hold up to secure his 10th start in the Indy 500 or if he would end up on the wrong end of the chopping block.
“That’s Indy drama,” he said. “I was talking of how sad it will be. We have 35 great entries this year and two will go home, but that’s the drama that we all were waiting for.: bump day.
“And then all of a sudden, there I am and I’m thinking it’s going to be me because that’s just how the day went. We were out there and were 31st and the car still wasn’t right, and why? I don’t know.
“We had all the right ingredients to not only be in the race, but challenging for pole, and we almost didn’t make it. So that just shows you how dramatic this race is, honestly.”
Rahal struggled through two qualifying attempts in the No. 15 United Rentals Honda, the best a four-lap average of 225.407 mph to put him 30th heading into today’s final round of qualifying that will decide the actual starting order of the 33 qualified cars. Rahal said his crew is baffled at the lack speed that has plagued them since practice opened on Tuesday.
“There’s nothing that really stands out to us that’s wrong,” Rahal said. “It just doesn’t pull down the straights. Even this car, we switched (chassis) overnight, this car’s (data) overlay is literally identical. I guess it means that our build quality between the two is the same, which is good. But we’ve got to figure out what it is.”
Keeping the bond among teammates in first-day qualifying, Sato’s run included “a little moment” on his third lap in the No. 30 Mi-Jack/Panasonic Honda. The defending Indy 500 champion averaged 225.513 mph to end up 29th on the timesheet.
“It was a tough day for all of us,” Sato said. “Obviously, we are not satisfied at all with where we are.
“I had a little moment, so I had to really lift. It's tough. The track conditions were not necessarily good, but we are lacking speed, for sure. I ended up lifting off the throttle because I simply couldn't make the corner. We have a lot of work to be done.”
All three RLL cars will participate in Group 1 qualifying this afternoon starting at 2:45 p.m. ET that will set the 10th through 33rd starting positions for the May 27 race. Coverage starts on WatchESPN at 2:30 p.m., then switches to ABC’s live broadcast of the final two hours starting at 4 p.m.