Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Team boss and owner Bobby Rahal

David Letterman (2015)

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is an IndyCar Series motorsport team owned by US motorsport legend Bobby Rahal , TV host David Letterman and businessman Mike Lanigan .

history

CART

Rahal Reynard-Ford from the CART series

The team was formed in 1992 in the then IndyCar World Series as Rahal-Hogan Racing by Bobby Rahal and Carl Hogan . The team won the series title in its first year. In 1993, the Truesports team , for which Rahal had previously driven for many years, was taken over and now has two cars. They also tried to develop their own chassis, but this turned out to be a flop. After not even being able to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 , the decision was made to use the usual Lola chassis. The use of Honda engines was hardly more successful in the 1994 season, which ended after the season. In order not to miss the Indy 500 again, Ilmor engines were procured for this .

In 1996, after the departure of Carl Hogan, the team was renamed Team Rahal . The next few years drove successfully in the CART series, but without winning the title. For the 2003 season , one car in the CART was taken out of service and only Michel Jourdain jr. drove the entire season. The second car was used in the Indy Racing League , to which the team switched completely from the coming season. After the bankruptcy of the CART and the re-establishment as the Champ-Car World Series, Rahal initially announced the further use of a vehicle in the new series, but transferred it to the IndyCar Series shortly before the start of the season.

IRL / IndyCar Series

In the 2003 IndyCar Series season , the team fielded a car with Kenny Bräck in the IndyCar Series . The Swede was ninth overall at the end of the season. In the last race of the season at Texas Motor Speedway , he suffered injuries in a serious accident that made him sideline until 2005. A second car was used for Jimmy Vasser on the Indy 500 .

From 2004 the team drove, now under the name Rahal Letterman Racing, only in the IndyCar Series, whereby Letterman had already participated in the team and often invited drivers to his show to advertise the series. Drivers were Buddy Rice and Vítor Meira , plus guest starts by Roger Yasukawa in Motegi and Indianapolis. In 2005 Danica Patrick joined Rice and Meira as the third driver, who quickly became a superstar in the series. In Indianapolis, the injured Buddy Rice was replaced by Kenny Bräck, who had his only race here after the accident.

Ryan Hunter-Reay's Dallara at the Indy 500 2008

For the 2006 season the driver pairing was Buddy Rice, Danica Patrick and Paul Dana . Dana brought a manufacturer of ethanol fuel into the series, but had a fatal accident in training for the season opener after a collision with Ed Carpenter . The team withdrew both cars for this race, in the second race you only competed with Rice and Patrick. From the third race onwards, the ethanol car was driven by Jeff Simmons . As of 2007, all cars in the series will run on ethanol fuel.

For the 2007 season, both Rice and Patrick left the team to switch to other teams. New in the team came for Scott Sharp , whose team was closed. Simmons was replaced later in the season by Ryan Hunter-Reay , who was the team's only regular driver for 2008. In the Indianapolis 500 2008 , a second car with Alex Lloyd at the wheel was also used together with Chip Ganassi Racing .

From 2009, the team focused on the American Le Mans Series and only returned to open-wheel racing in 2009 and 2010 for the Indy 500. For the 2011 season , Mike Lanigan, a third owner, joined the team, so the team was renamed Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing . In the IndyCar Series, at the end of the era of the Dallara IR-03 chassis, two cars will again be fielded in individual races this season.

With the introduction of the Dallara DW-12, the team returned completely to the IndyCar Series. In the 2012 season, Takuma Sato drove the team's only car. In the final lap of the Indianapolis 500, the Japanese attacked leader Dario Franchitti in the first corner, but lost the car and crashed into the outer wall. He was ranked 17th and finished the season in 14th place overall. A second car was also used in Indianapolis, with Michel Jourdain junior at the wheel .

For 2013 , Graham Rahal came back to his father's team, Takuma Sato left the team. The team also expanded back to two full-time cars with James Jakes joining the team. However, both could only deliver below average performances and finished 18th and 19th of 21 pilots in the overall ranking. Michel Jourdain Jr. drove another car in Indianapolis.

American Le Mans Series

BMW M3 GT2 at the Petit Le Mans 2009

For the 2007 season Rahal-Letterman entered the American Le Mans Series with a Porsche 996 GT3 RSR and achieved two podium positions with the drivers Ralf Kelleners and Tommy Milner .

From 2009 the team fielded two BMW M3 GT2s in the ALMS as BMW Rahal Letterman Racing . The team was supported by BMW North America and was provided with Dirk Müller as a works driver for the first season . Various works drivers were also employed in the following years, but American drivers were also employed. When Mike Lanigan joined the team as the third owner, the name changed to BMW Team RLL .

Up to and including the 2012 season , one driver, two team and two manufacturers championships could be won. In addition, one of the most prestigious races in the championship, the Sebring 12 Hours , was won twice. From the 2013 season, the team switched to the new BMW Z4 GTE .

driver

CART

season	No.	driver	comment
1992	12	Bobby Rahal
1993	1	Bobby Rahal
	26th	Mike Groff
1994	4th	Bobby Rahal
	10	Mike Groff
1995	9	Bobby Rahal
	10	Raul Boesel
1996	18th	Bobby Rahal
	28	Bryan Herta
1997	7th	Bryan Herta
	8th	Bobby Rahal
1998	7th	Bobby Rahal
	8th	Bryan Herta
1999	7th	Max Papis
	8th	Bryan Herta
2000	7th	Max Papis
	8th	Kenny Bräck
	91	Casey Mears	only in Fontana
2001	7th	Max Papis
	8th	Kenny Bräck
2002	8th	Jimmy Vasser
	9	Michel Jourdain junior
2003	9	Michel Jourdain junior

IRL / IndyCar Series

season	No.	driver	comment
2002	19th	Jimmy Vasser	only in Indianapolis and Fontana
2003	15th	Kenny Bräck
	19th	Jimmy Vasser	only in Indianapolis
2004	15th	Buddy Rice
	16	Roger Yasukawa	only in Motegi and Indianapolis
	17th	Vítor Meira	not in Homestead and Phoenix
2005	15th	Buddy Rice	not in Indianapolis
		Kenny Bräck	only in Indianapolis
	16	Danica Patrick
	17th	Vítor Meira
2006	15th	Buddy Rice
	16	Danica Patrick
	17th	Paul Dana	only training in Homestead, fatal accident
		Jeff Simmons	not in Homestead, St. Petersburg
2007	8th	Scott Sharp
	17th	Jeff Simmons	up to and including Nashville
		Ryan Hunter-Reay	from Mid-Ohio
2008	16	Alex Lloyd	Indianapolis only, in partnership with Chip Ganassi Racing
	17th	Ryan Hunter-Reay
2009	17th	Oriol Servià	only in Indianapolis
2010	30th	Graham Rahal	only in Indianapolis
2011	15th	Jay Howard	only in Las Vegas
	30th	Bertrand baguette	only in Indianapolis
		Pippa man	only in Loudon, Kentucky and Las Vegas
2012	15th	Takuma Sato
	4th	Michel Jourdain junior	only in Indianapolis
2013	15th	Graham Rahal
	16	James Jakes
	17th	Mike Conway	only in Long Beach
		Michel Jourdain junior	only in Indianapolis

ALMS

season	No.	driver	Endurance rider	comment
2007	18th	Tommy Milner	Graham Rahal
		Ralf Kelleners
2009	90	Joey hand	Andy Priaulx	no endurance driver in Sebring
		Bill Auberlen
	92	Dirk Mueller	Jörg Müller	no endurance driver in Sebring
		Tommy Milner
2010	90	Joey hand	Andy Priaulx
		Dirk Mueller
	92	Bill Auberlen	Dirk Werner
		Tommy Milner
2011	55	Bill Auberlen	Augusto Farfus
		Dirk Werner
	56	Joey hand	Andy Priaulx
		Dirk Mueller
2012	55	Bill Auberlen	Uwe Alzen	Alzen in Sebring and Summerton in Atlanta
		Jörg Müller	Jonathan Summerton
	56	Dirk Mueller		Summerton Endurance rider in Sebring, Alzen in Atlanta Summerton also replaces Hand in Elkhart Lake, Virginia and Atlanta
		Joey hand
		Jonathan Summerton	Uwe Alzen
2013	55	Maxime Martin	Jörg Müller	Hand to replace Martin in Austin
		Joey hand
		Bill Auberlen	Uwe Alzen	Alzen not in Sebring and as a replacement for Auberlen at the Petit Le Mans
	56	Dirk Mueller	Bill Auberlen	Auberlen only at the Petit Le Mans
		Joey hand		Hand in Sebring, Long Beach, Mosport, Baltimore, Virginia
		John Edwards		Edwards in Sebring, Laguna Seca, Lime Rock, Elkhart Lake, Austin, Petit Le Mans

1. ↑ A third driver is usually used for the 12-hour race in Sebring and the Petit Le Mans .

successes

• 2004: Indianapolis 500 winner with Buddy Rice
• 2010: American Le Mans Series GT Team Championship
• 2011: American Le Mans Series GT drivers championship title with Joey Hand and Dirk Müller
• 2011: American Le Mans Series GT Team Championship

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.motorsport.com/indycar/news/irl-two-rahal-cars-for-indycar-series/
2. ↑ http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/02-24-2005/0003072393&EDATE=
3. ↑ http://www.gt-eins.at/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7864&Itemid=2

Web links

• http://www.rahal.com/