At the green flag, Rahal held position and with the race settling down he began to find his rhythm and push to improve, overtaking rival Neel Jani on lap 17. In the first round of pitstops Rahal’s crew gave him the perfect refuel and tyre change, and through these efforts, combined with a mistake by one of his rivals that had been ahead of him, he was able to make up track position and by half distance the young racer was lying third on track. With a late yellow providing another refuelling opportunity Rahal pitted for the final time and maintained position, while the leader, Tristan Gommendy, running on a different pitstop strategy, was expected to need a final stop. Team mate Sebastian Bourdais was ahead in second place, and when Gommendy slowed and ran out of fuel the Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing pair were lying 1-2 with six laps to go. The chequered flag soon flew and Rahal took his first Champ Car podium finish, following Bourdais home.
Rahal said after the race, “It’s a great result for the Medi I Zone team today. They’ve worked so hard since Vegas and I’m very pleased that we’ve finally got the reward for that. We’ve been building ourselves back up since that first race and now we’re where we belong. ”
“It’s a bit of a coincidence that my Dad wasn’t at my first professional race win and he’s not here for this podium finish either. Perhaps he shouldn’t come to any of them in future! Dad knows I’m very proud to be racing and enjoy him being with me; maybe he’ll be at my first Champ Car race win, and I hope that’s not too far away. I’m out there with the aim of victory every time, and we’re getting closer, but Sebastian is going to be very tough to beat. ”
The Champ Car Series, after a three week run of races at temporary street circuits has a break of seven weeks, and will return to track action on a different type of track, a permanent road course in Portland, Oregon. Racing starts on 8 June, with the Portland Grand Prix taking place on 10 June.
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