Graham Rahal urges team not to be “overconfident” as RLL Racing sweeps top-3 positions at Sonsio Grand Prix practice 2

The Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) team may have delivered a stellar performance during the second practice session of the Sonsio Grand Prix, but Graham Rahal is still not getting ahead of himself despite the result. The Indiana-based outfit locked out the front row with a stellar display at the Indianapolis road course.

All three of its drivers - Rahal, rookie Louis Foster, and Devlin DeFrancesco - posted the fastest three times of the second session, marking one of the team’s most impressive outings at a Grand Prix weekend in recent years. However, despite this impressive display, the veteran Rahal has cautioned his team against complacency throughout the race weekend.

In his interaction with the media following his quick lap, as captured by the IndyCar official website, the 36-year-old stated:

“We’re just not in that place yet as a team where we can be overconfident,” Rahal said.

“It hurt us at Barber. At Barber, we should have gone red-red (two sets of alternate tires) in qualifying, and we didn’t. I didn’t get a good run on reds because of a mechanical problem on Friday at Barber, and it’s haunted me. It’s kind of really angered me this week. I felt like we kind of gave up a race weekend by not being a little more thorough in our thinking there.”

The Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing trio had an outing to forget at the previous Children’s of Alabama race in Barber. Despite recording relatively impressive lap times during the practice sessions of the event, the team’s three drivers faltered in qualifying.

Foster was the best qualifier in 12th, while Graham Rahal could only manage 21st place in qualifying. The veteran and his team will now have their focus set on recording a strong showing in qualifying for the Sonsio race.

Graham Rahal reacts after the Children’s of Alabama Grand Prix

Graham Rahal shared his thoughts on what was a challenging outing at the recently held Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix. The 36-year-old endured a difficult afternoon after qualifying in 21st place for the Barber Motorsports Park event.

Although the veteran driver moved up seven places on the grid to finish 14th in the race, the six-time IndyCar race winner was still far from pleased with his performance at the event. He wrote on Instagram:

“Not our weekend but the good news is it's May, and it's time for the big show! #INDY500 #INDYCAR”

While it was not the outing Graham Rahal would have envisioned heading into the race weekend, the veteran driver has an immediate shot at redemption with the Sonsio Grand Prix — a race he boasts fond memories of.

Through Rahal’s 18 years of racing in IndyCar, the 36-year-old has finished on the podium three times (2015, 2020 & 2023), coincidentally finishing second in all three events.

The 2015 edition of the race witnessed him climb up the grid from 17th to finish behind Will Power in second. In 2020, Rahal led 18 laps and finished behind Chip Ganassi veteran Scott Dixon on the night. In 2023, the Ohio native finished only five-tenths behind Dixon again to claim another second-place finish.