Graham Rahal put the woes of Las Vegas behind him in Long Beach this weekend, starting in fifth place and crossing the finishing line in eighth position. Rahal, in his rookie year of competing in the Champ Car World Series, drives the No. 2 Medi I Zone Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing entry and debuted with the team at the first round in Vegas last weekend. With a first lap incident sidelining the American teenager before completing the opening tour of the new street circuit, Rahal was keen to put this behind him and race the distance in the Grand Prix of Long Beach.
The practice and qualifying sessions proved that 18-year-old Rahal has the pace of the front runners, with consistent top ten session times and a fifth place qualifying spot. He also felt that he had more time in himself and the car, saying after the final pre-race session, “Certainly we expected to be quicker and thought we would go quicker; that s always the goal. ”
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