Graham Rahal Completes Day 1 of Champ Car Test with Newman Haas
Quote selected text Published September 13th, 2006 in MainChamp Car Atlantic driver Graham Rahal, 17, completed the first of a two-day test in a Newman/Haas Racing (NHR)-prepared Champ Car at Sebring International Raceway today. Rahal got behind the wheel of a Champ Car for the first time and ran approx. 195 miles during the day while piloting three-time championship runner up Bruno Junqueira’s No. 2 Hole in the Wall Camps Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone race car around the 1.65-mile course with a best lap time of 52.4 seconds.
“It’s an honor to drive this car,” said Rahal who resided in New Albany, Ohio. “My dad always told me it was his dream to drive a car for Mr. Newman and Mr. Haas and now I’ve got a leg up on him. It’s a family environment at Newman/Haas Racing; everyone made me feel at home. If I can do the job I hope to drive for the team next year.”
Rahal currently drives the #18 Gehl Company entry for Mi-Jack Conquest Racing in the Champ Car Atlantic Championship. With one race to go in the championship he has already locked up at least a second-place finish in the season standings after having won a series-high five of 11 races and he is only 12 points behind series leader Simon Pagenaud (253-241) with the season finale set to take place in Elkhart Lake, Wis. on September 24.
“The biggest difference is the power and straightaway speed,” said Rahal of the difference between an Atlantic car and a Champ Car. “It was pretty interesting coming out of the pits with this power. The car is 30 mph faster down the back straight but other than that it’s fairly similar. I have two days to go out there and see what I can do. You can’t put too much pressure on yourself or you break. Especially with a team like this which is the best. I’m pretty satisfied with my lap times today but I need to pick up speed tomorrow. I want to do well but at the same time I can’t expect to be as quick as Sebastien and Bruno, I have to build up to it. They have a lot of experience and a lot of miles in these cars. I’m going to just keep my head down and stay focused.”
Rahal quickly reacquainted himself with the race course today after having competed on the long course in the Star Mazda series in 2005 where he finished third and in the 2006 12 Hours of Sebring where he finished sixth in the GT2 class. During the day Rahal and NHR shared track time with the new Panoz DP01 Champ Car driven by Roberto Moreno and were able to accomplish their goals for the day.
“It was a nice, straightforward test today,” said Brian Lisles, general manager of Newman/Haas Racing. “Graham didn’t make any mistakes and did everything we could have hoped for. Now we understand what he needs from the car and we can work on improving tomorrow.”
McDonald’s® driver and two-time Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais was on hand during the afternoon to observe the test which will continue tomorrow morning.
[Newman Haas PR]
- Report: Graham Rahal to Possibly Drive for Newman Haas
- Graham Rahal Set for Champ Car in 2007
- Graham Rahal prepares for Champ Car debut
- Graham Rahal to Race in Champ Car or Europe, but not IRL
- Could Rahal be Eyeing a Move Back to Champ Car?
Why Bobby Rahal would have his son drive in Champ Car without the opportunity to participate in his own team, and the Indianapolis 500 for that matter, is beyond me. It doesn’t do anything to help the open-wheel series merge. Those in open-wheel except for a few exceptions are shooting themselves in the foot, be it owners of teams or the series. It’s frustrating as a fan to see this happen.
Joe,
We couldn’t agree more with your assesment. It certainly doesn’t help the potential merger and it also underscores something very interesting…Bobby Rahal doesn’t want his son to race in an all (mostly) oval series because of the danger involved. But the next logical question arises….well why is Rahal in the IRL then? The answer is, of course, money, or more directly, HONDA money. The reality is team owners will go where the money is, for better or worse.
From what I read Bobby Rahal didn’t want his son racing in IRL because he is prepping him for a career in F1 and thought Champ Car is a better option. Honestly I would of sent him over to Europe to race if that’s the case because Champ Car and IRL are dead end series if you ask me.
First, Bobby’s priority is his son - his career and safety. The IRL is a dead end if any F1 aspirations are in the mix. Safety-wise, the IRL is a 15 race Russian Roulette game and there’s no way Bobby’s going to put Graham in there.
Bobby’s not going to think “gee, how best to use my son to promote the merger?” Would you do that? Of course not. If anything, Rahal in Champ Car is good for the merger. Few people think that Tony George stays awake at night figuring out how to make this happen. He has people in his corner continually emboldening him to stay separate.
The more power and draw CC has, the more TG is forced to deal with that. Peace through strength, brothers.
As for why Bobby wouldn’t put Graham in a car at RLR, NHR is the best team, save perhaps Penske, in American OWR. His team’s a mess, it’s in the IRL, and he has no sponsor to run his son.
More on F1 - if they really want to give that a shot they will need to race in Europe. But it’s absolutely essential you get in a top team in Europe or you go from hero to zero almost instantly.
Look at guys like Phil Giebler (now racing go-karts) and Colin Fleming. Those guys have all sorts of talent. Colin finished second to Scott Speed in the Renault series their first year. Scott was older and had a year in Europe. When Scott went to GP2, Colin did the European Renault series and the team wasn’t that great. Now he’s running in Atlantics. Europe is brutal. Bobby knows this (raced there as a driver and got sent packing by the “Rat” as a Principal for Jaguar) and will do everything possible to make sure his son succeeds, no matter where they are.
There were no top-flight GP2 teams that could run Graham, so NHR in Champ Car is an excellent opportunity and training ground for an 18 year old! If he does well there and a first-rate GP2 operation offers him a ride, they may well make that jump. How many 20 year old arrive in Europe with two Champ Car tours under their belt? That would be the way to do it. I hear the GP2 cars and Champ Cars are pretty similar, so it makes a lot of sense.