LEEDS, Ala. — A slight degree of lament was there for Graham Rahal on Saturday (March 28) afternoon at Barber Motorsports Park, as his quick time in the Fast Six session for Sunday’s NTT IndyCar Series Children’s of Alabama Grand Prix was bested near the end of the session by Alex Palou and David Mulakas.
But despite a third-place start spot on Sunday, there are plenty of reasons to smile for Rahal and Rahal Letterman Lanagan Racing team.
Rahal’s top-five start will be his second starting spot of third in the past three races, and Saturday’s effort continued his qualifying prowess from last year, in which he had four starting spots of eighth or better on road courses.
“A good session, obviously. I was surprised those guys ran new (alternates) in the fast six. I was not expecting that,” Rahal said. “I guess they only went three-tenths faster than us, which is probably a sign that if we had done that, we would probably be on the pole.”
Rahal’s quickest Fast Six lap of 1:06.5181 was on track to win the pole position before the end of the six-minute session.
“The lap I did was good on used tires, but they were nowhere near what it would have been,” Rahal said.
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Saturday’s effort was no surprise to Rahal. And that’s after timing in 20th at the end of Friday’s first practice.
“Even yesterday I told IndyCar Radio that I know we had finished 20th, but I botched the tire run, so I was not really in a panic,” Rahal said. “I screwed up the red run, so I thought were a top-ten car. [Saturday] morning, I went out right away, and we were top-10 right away, and I was like ‘dude, this thing is fun to drive.’ “
On Saturday, the proof of that belief revealed itself.
It didn’t take long for Rahal to be shown as a factor on a windy day at the “Alabama Roller Coaster.”
A quickest-lap time of 1:08.2607 notched him as sixth fastest in the first practice, and he would be third-quick on a time of 1:06.2630 in his group qualifying session. And with a fifth-place run of 1:06.3538 in the second qualifying session, Rahal found himself in the Fast Six.
“I’ll take it. The boys have done a wonderful job, giving me a car all weekend that I have been pleased with,” Rahal said. “I’ve been able to attack and push hard. That’s all you can ask for.” “When you have that at a place like this, you can push hard going into one, push into two and eight, it makes a world of difference.”
Now, Rahal gets to roll off on Sunday among series front-runners such as defending series champion and race-winner Palou and points leader Kyle Kirkwood.
“Right now, we’re in a fight with the big dogs. We’ll see what happens Sunday,” Rahal said. “It’s important to start up front and with the good guys. We have a little work to do, but our guys have done a good job in the pits all year. So, if we can put those things together, we’ll have a good day.”
