Graham Rahal completed the European leg of the 2007 Champ Car World Series with a ninth place finish. Today’s inaugural Bavaria Beer Champ Car Grand Prix of Holland at the Assen TT circuit drew a huge crowd of enthusiastic fans and gave Rahal his tenth top ten finish this season.
In the lead up to today’s race Rahal was on front-running pace from the start. The first practice session at this Dutch track produced second fastest lap for the young American and set him up for a strong provisional qualifying run. Rahal’s immediate affinity with this quick track played a part, as he says, “The track is a ton of fun; it’s probably the best track we’ve been to, but it’s going to be difficult if not impossible to pass so it’s critical to qualify well. ”
In the pre-qualifying practice period Rahal continued to perform well, posting another second quickest lap. However, for the qualifying session the weather changed from dry to rain and the battle was on to find a good wet setup.
Rahal proved he has the talent to cope, whatever the weather, with a provisional third on the grid after this session, although he wasn’t as comfortable in these conditions. He explained, “It was tough for me to come to grips with the car on the circuit in the rain. At first, I kind of psyched myself out and told myself it was going to be really slippery in the rain because yesterday on the track walk you got the sense that with only a little mist it was going to be slick. But the car performed well and I felt I had a pretty good grip on the circuit. ”
The final practice sessions and qualifying on Saturday for this first Assen event, saw Rahal maintain his front running pace, with second quickest lap in the practices. By the end of final qualifying he had posted sixth fastest lap, his grid slot for the race, although Rahal felt that his car was quicker than results suggested.
“The Medi | Zone car is much better than the qualifying position shows, ” said Rahal. “I’m actually disappointed with the outcome. It was an eventful day and session for us. I had a few ‘offs’ today which is uncharacteristic for me, although we ran well in the pre-qualifying practice and ended up P2 so we were hoping to challenge for pole. It was just a tough day but at the end I think that we have a pretty quick car. “
Race day weather today remained dry and Rahal was ready to battle hard from sixth for a podium spot. On the opening lap Rahal passed Simon Pagenaud for fifth and with team mate Sebastien Bourdais suffering a Push to Pass button problem, he inherited fourth, maintaining this until the first round of pitstops. He exited the pits as the fourth car, but with Bruno Junqueira staying out on track, he was fifth on the track. With a return to green flag, Rahal was quickly back on paces, but struggling with his brakes he had dropped back to ninth by lap 20.
He remained in this slot until the next round of pitstops, again under yellow, and with the Medi | Zone crew putting in an excellent stop, Rahal was able to gain a position and lie eighth at the midpoint of the race. Continuing to battle with inconsistent brakes, the Newman/Haas/Lanigan driver dropped to ninth in the closing stages and finished in this position, to collect valuable points and his tenth top ten finish maintaining his record for the season, with every race finish in the top ten.
“Running in fourth at the start of the race it looked as if we could be strong, but it didn’t turn out that way. We had the speed and the quick pit stops, but a few problems with the brakes and some mistakes from me added up to a top ten finish not a podium. I just didn’t pull it altogether today, although we definitely had the car and the pace. I’m still confident that we can win, but with only two races left we’ll need everything on our side and then we can make it happen.
Rahal’s efforts also aided the team in being crowned Phanos Champ Car European Team Cup champion. The team, with the most points after the two European race, has been rewarded with trophies and week-long stay at one of the Phanos Resorts locations.
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