Graham Rahal

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Graham Rahal (2014)

Graham Rahal (born January 4, 1989 in Columbus , Ohio ) is an American racing driver . His father is the racing driver Bobby Rahal . In 2006 he was runner-up in the Atlantic Championship . He has been in the IndyCar Series since 2008 . He has been racing for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing since 2013 .

Career

Rahal began his motorsport career in karting in 2000 , in which he was active until 2003. In 2004 he moved into the single-seater racing and was seventh American US in the Formula BMW . In 2005 he started in the Star Mazda Series . With a win, he finished the season in fourth place overall. In winter 2005/2006 Rahal contested six A1GP races for the Lebanese team . Although he has US citizenship, because he has Lebanese ancestors, he was allowed to compete in the A1GP for Lebanon. Rahal's main focus in 2006, however, was the Atlantic Championship , in which he started for Conquest Racing with five victories and achieved the runner-up title behind Simon Pagenaud . He also competed in a race in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) and in the Indy Lights .

Graham Rahal with his 2007 ChampCar

After a start in the Grand-Am Sports Car Series and two A1GP participations, Rahal switched to the Champ Car series in 2007 and became a teammate of the reigning champion Sébastien Bourdais at Newman / Haas / Lanigan Racing . In his third race in Houston , he finished second on the podium for the first time, making him the youngest driver in Champ Car history to finish a race on the podium. In the further course of the season three more podium placements followed. He was denied a victory, however. As the second-best newcomer, he finished the season in fifth place overall. His team-mate Bourdais defended the championship title. In addition, Rahal started two ALMS races and achieved a podium place in the GT2 classification.

Graham Rahal won his first race in the IndyCar Series in St. Petersburg

In 2008 Rahal was originally supposed to compete in the Champ Car with former Formula 1 racing driver Justin Wilson for Newman / Haas / Lanigan Racing. However, the series merged with the IndyCar Series before the start of the season and the team competed with both drivers in the reunited championship. Due to a training accident in Homestead , however, he did not debut in the first race of the season. Rahal therefore made his debut in St. Petersburg and won this race. This made him the youngest racing driver to win a major American monoposto race until Colton Herta won in Austin in 2019 . He also became the fourth driver to make his IndyCar debut. In the further course of the season, however, he no longer built on his initial success and only finished four more races among the top ten drivers. At the end of the season he finished 17th overall. In 2009 Rahal stayed with Newman / Haas / Lanigan Racing. Rahal had become the team's internal number one after Wilson left the team and this season prevailed against Robert Doornbos and Oriol Servià , who were his teammates one after the other. With two third places as the best results, he finished seventh in the championship at the end of the season.

After Newman / Haas / Lanigan Racing lost their sponsor with McDonald’s , Rahal was initially without a cockpit for the 2010 season . After the first race he was signed by Sarah Fisher Racing for the second and third races of the season. Originally, team owner Sarah Fisher wanted to take part in these races herself, but decided to only take part in the oval races and let Rahal take over the cockpit for the two races. Since Rahal convinced them in these two races, he was allowed to drive another race afterwards. For the Indianapolis 500 , Rahal received a cockpit from his father's team, Rahal Letterman Racing , which only competed in this race. He was also used for a race at Dreyer & Reinbold Racing in Newton , where he represented the injured Mike Conway . He then announced his return to his former team, now called Newman / Haas Racing. He started for the team in six of the last eight races of the season. He returned to Sarah Fisher Racing for a race that Newman / Haas Racing did not use. With a fifth place, which he achieved for Newman / Haas Racing, as the best result, he finished 20th overall at the end of the season.

Rahal for Chip Ganassi Racing at the IndyCar race in Motegi 2011

After being linked with multiple teams for the 2011 season, Rahal was signed to Chip Ganassi Racing in December 2010 . He competed for a satellite team from the actual racing team. In the fourth race in São Paulo he achieved his first podium finish for his new team with a second place. A race later, at the Indianapolis 500, followed with a third place another place on the podium. It was also his best result in this race to date. He finished the season with a total of three podium finishes in ninth place in the overall standings. In addition, Rahal won the Daytona 24-hour race in 2011 together with his teammates Joey Hand , Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas . In 2012 Rahal stayed with Chip Ganassi Racing in the IndyCar Series. In the second race in Birmingham he reached the finish in fourth place. At the Firestone 550 , Rahal was about to win his second race in the IndyCar Series. However, he touched the wall a few laps before the end and finally only crossed the finish line in second place. At the end of the season he was tenth overall. Rahal announced in early August that he would leave Ganassi at the end of the season. The team was interested in continued employment, but didn't have the budget for another full-time season. Rahal was in a similar situation at Newman / Haas at the end of 2009 and was without a full-time cockpit in 2010. In order not to be without a full-time cockpit again, Rahal decided to leave the team in order to enter into negotiations with other teams immediately. Rahal also took part in the Daytona 24-hour race once again.

For the 2013 season , Rahal returned to his father's team, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing . In the third race in Long Beach , he finished second. It was his only podium finish. He finished five races in the top 10. He finished the season in 18th place overall. With 319 to 294 points, he prevailed against James Jakes . In 2014 Rahal stayed with the family racing team, which only used one vehicle continuously. Rahal was on the podium once with a second place in Detroit and finished the season in 19th place overall. He also took part in a race in the newly established United SportsCar Championship (USCC) for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing . In 2015 Rahal completed his eighth IndyCar season for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. After three podium finishes, he won the race in Fontana . It was his second win in the IndyCar Series. In the following race, the ABC Supply Wisconsin 250 , he was third. A fourth place in Newton was followed by another victory in Lexington . Rahal improved to fourth place in the drivers' standings, making him the best Honda driver . He also started a race in the United SportsCar Championship.

In 2016 Rahal stayed with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in the IndyCar Series. He was on the podium four times, winning the Firestone 600 . He was again best Honda rider and finished the season in fifth place overall. In 2017 he won both races in Detroit and finished sixth in the drivers' standings behind the Penkse pilots and Scott Dixon. In 2018, in addition to the IndyCar season , he took part in the three longest races of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for the Acura Team Penske.

statistics

Career stations

  • 2008 : IndyCar Series (17th place)
  • 2008: Rolex Sports Car Series, DP (50th place)
  • 2009 : IndyCar Series (7th place)
  • 2010 : IndyCar Series (20th place)
  • 2011 : IndyCar Series (9th place)
  • 2011: Rolex Sports Car Series, DP (23rd place)
  • 2012 : IndyCar Series (10th place)
  • 2012: Rolex Sports Car Series, DP (31st place)
  • 2013 : IndyCar Series (18th place)
  • 2014 : IndyCar Series (19th place)
  • 2014 : USCC , GTLM (30th place)
  • 2015 : IndyCar Series (4th place)
  • 2015 : USCC, GTLM (23rd place)
  • 2016 : IndyCar Series (5th place)
  • 2016: WSCC, GTLM (30th place)
  • 2017 : IndyCar Series (6th place)
  • 2017: WSCC, GTD (68th place)
  • 2018 : IndyCar Series (8th place)
  • 2018: WSCC, P (31st place)
  • 2019 : IndyCar Series (10th place)
  • 2019: WSCC, P (30th place)

Individual results in the IndyCar Series

year team 1 2 3 4th 5 6th 7th 8th 9 10 11 12 13 14th 15th 16 17th 18th 19th Points rank
2008 Newman / Haas / Lanigan Racing HMS STP MOT LBH KAN INDY Mil TXS IOW RIR WGL NSH MDO EDM KTY SNM DET CHI SRF 288 17th
WD 1*   13 12 33 25th 11 10 18th 8th 12 16 26th 25th 8th 13 19th 9
2009 Newman / Haas / Lanigan Racing STP LBH KAN INDY Mil TXS IOW RIR WGL GOAL EDM KTY MDO SNM CHI MOT HMS     385 7th
7th 12 7th 31 4th 22nd 11 3 13 20th 7th 5 8th 21st 5 3 11    
2010 Sarah Fisher Racing SAO STP ALA LBH KAN INDY TXS IOW WGL GOAL EDM MDO SNM CHI KTY MOT HMS     235 20th
  9 17th 22nd                     20th        
Rahal Letterman Racing       12 7  
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing   9
Newman / Haas Racing   5 20th 9 10 8th 10
2011 Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing STP ALA LBH SAO INDY TXS Mil IOW GOAL EDM MDO NHA SNM BAL MOT KTY LSV   320 9.
17th 18th 13 2 3 30 9 30th 2 15th 13 25th 24 26th 8th 10 12 12 C.  
2012 Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing STP ALA LBH SAO INDY DET TXS Mil IOW GOAL EDM MDO SNM BAL HAIRDRYER         333 10.
12 4th 24 16 13 12 19th 2 9 9 23 4th 11 5 11 6th        
2013 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing STP ALA LBH SAO INDY DET TXS Mil IOW POC GOAL MDO SNM BAL HOU HAIRDRYER 319 18th
13 21st 2 22nd 25 26 9 9 21st 16 5 ° 9 18th 20th 13 18th 11 17 ° 7th 18th 15th
2014 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing STP LBH ALA IMS INDY DET TXS HOU POC IOW GOAL MDO Mil SNM HAIRDRYER   345 19th
14th 13 17th 21st 33 20 2 ° 21st 12 11 16 19th 7th 6th 20th 5 14th 20 ° 19th  
2015 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing STP NOL LBH ALA IMS INDY DET TXS GOAL HAIRDRYER Mil IOW MDO POC SNM       490 4th
11 8th 11 2 ° 2 ° 5 23 3 15th 9 1 ° 3 ° 4 ° 1* 20th 18th      
2016 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing STP PHO LBH ALA IMS INDY DET ROA IOW GOAL MDO POC TXS WGL SNM       484 5.
16 5 15th 2 ° 4 ° 14 26 4th 11 ° 3 ° 16 13 4th 11 1 ° 21st 2 °      
2017 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing STP LBH ALA PHO IMS INDY DET TXS ROA IOW GOAL MDO POC STL WGL SNM     522 6th
17th 10 13 21st 6th 12 ° 14 1* 1* 4th 8th 5 9 3 ° 9 ° 12 5 6th    
2018 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing STP PHO LBH ALA IMS INDY DET TXS ROA IOW GOAL MDO POC STL POR SNM     392 8th.
2 9 ° 5 7th 9 ° 10 ° 30 23 ° 5 6 ° 6th 7th 21st 9 14th 10 23 23    
2019 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing STP COA ALA LBH IMS INDY DET TXS ROA GOAL IOW MDO POC STL POR LAG     389 10.
12 4th 23 ° 4th 9 ° 27 17 7th 7th 3 ° 4 ° 9 8th 9 9 18th 23 12    
2020 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing TXS IMS ROA IOW INDY STL IMS STP MDO           142 6th
17th 2 ° 7 ° 23 12 3 °        

( Legend )

Remarks
  1. ↑ Took place on the same day as the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.
  2. ↑ Took place on the same day as the Indy Japan 300.
  3. ↑ No points were awarded.

Sebring results

year team vehicle Teammate Teammate placement Failure reason
2006 United StatesUnited States Alex Job Racing Porsche 996 GT3-RSR GermanyGermany Klaus Graf GermanyGermany Mike Rockenfeller Rank 14
2007 United StatesUnited States Rahal Letterman Racing Porsche 997 GT3 RSR United StatesUnited States Tommy Milner GermanyGermany Ralf Kelleners Rank 18
2018 United StatesUnited States Acura Team Penske Acura ARX-05 United StatesUnited States Ricky Taylor BrazilBrazil Helio Castroneves failure Engine failure

Web links

Commons : Graham Rahal  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "Surprise: Rahal drives for Sarah Fisher!" (Motorsport-Total.com on March 10, 2010)
  2. ↑ "Indy 500: News from Graham Rahal and Paul Tracy" (Motorsport-Total.com on May 5, 2010)
  3. ↑ "Iowa: Rahal replaces injured Conway" (Motorsport-Total.com on June 10, 2010)
  4. ↑ "So yes: Rahal returns to Newman / Haas" (Motorsport-Total.com on July 14, 2010)
  5. ^ "Official: Ganassi expanded to four cars" (Motorsport-Total.com on December 16, 2010)
  6. ↑ Pete Fink: "Rahal leaves Ganassi". Motorsport-Total.com, August 3, 2012, accessed August 23, 2012 .
  7. ^ Mark Glendenning: "Graham Rahal says potential of RLLR convinced him to join for 2013". autosport.com, November 14, 2012, accessed November 14, 2012 .
  8. ↑ Chris Widlic: IndyCar's Rahal looking forward to 2015 racing season. wishtv.com, February 13, 2015, accessed March 6, 2015 .
personal data
SURNAME Rahal, Graham
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American racing car driver
DATE OF BIRTH 4th January 1989
PLACE OF BIRTH Columbus (Ohio) , United States