Not only does Graham Rahal have the prime starting position for today’s IndyCar Series race at Kansas Speedway, he has the rest of the 22-car field between him and the two other fastest cars in the race.
Rahal, the last driver on the track, turned four laps at an average speed of 211.311 mph to win the pole for the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300. In doing so, he knocked Dario Franchitti off the pole and Helio Castroneves off the front row. Indianapolis Star
“I think just the numbers show what the McDonald’s boys have done in the offseason,” said Rahal, currently ninth in Indy points with a best finish of seventh. “Qualifying pace is always our issue and to be honest I think a lot of people expected that it would be our issue again here, and certainly it hasn’t been.
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“I’m just so happy for the McDonald’s boys and in the memory of Paul (the late Paul Newman, team co-founder). To have two poles in three races, I don’t think that anybody expected it, but we’ll take it.” Topeka Capital Journal
Rahal, son of 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal, had a great start to his IndyCar career last season, opening with a victory at St. Petersburg. He proved adept at weaving through the field, moving up in six of the nine races he finished, including four top-10 finishes.
What hurt Rahal was qualifying. He started second at Milwaukee and third at Richmond — he crashed at both races — but had just three other top-10 qualifying runs, averaging 12th on the grid in 15 races.
This year has been a different story.
The 20-year-old Rahal opened the season by becoming the youngest pole sitter in IRL history at St. Pete on April 4 and was seventh last week at the Long Beach Grand Prix. He kept the trend going at 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway, averaging 211.311 mph for his first pole on an oval.
“It’s going to feel pretty good to see nobody in front of me for a little while,” he said. The Associated Press
At the time of his qualifying laps Rahal knocked series points leader Dario Franchitti out of the No. 1 spot, but the IndyCar Series later moved Franchitti (210.967 lap average) and third-fastest Helio Castroneves (210.857) to the back of the starting grid for diving below the white out-of-bounds line during qualifying.
The penalties levied on Franchitti and Castroneves boosted Rahal’s rookie teammate, Robert Doornbos, from the fourth spot to the front row. Doornbos, a 27-year-old native of Rotterdam, Netherlands, averaged 210.665 over his four qualifying laps.
Today’s race will be Doornbos’ first start on an oval track, and he said he and Rahal will have to work together to be effective today. Topeka Capital Journal
The penalties saw Danica Patrick move up to third while reigning IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon of New Zealand posted the fourth-fastest qualifying time and American Marco Andretti was fifth. AFP
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