Rahal closing in on second IndyCar entry for 2018

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has been working on a plan for the last two months to add a second full-time entry under its tent starting in 2018, and according to co-owner Bobby Rahal, the signs are encouraging.

"We're getting close to a fully-funded second car for next year," the 1986 Indy 500 winner told RACER. "Given some of the increased support our team has recently had like with 5/3rd Bank, which is a three-year deal, there's a lot of momentum to put a second car together on a full-time basis."

Rahal's son Graham, race engineer Eddie Jones, and the rest of the team members have built RLLR into a powerhouse single-car program that regularly upsets the bigger IndyCar operations. That said, the team has been successful in pushing its way through to fourth or fifth in the championship as a one-car effort, but getting past Team Penske, Chip Ganassi Racing and Andretti Autosport to claim the title has been too tall of an order so far.

At the urging of co-owners Mike Lanigan and David Letterman, the plan to add a second title-worthy entry was crafted, and it should differ greatly from RLLR's last two-car effort where a funded driver – rather than the best available driver – filled the second seat.

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"I think everybody knows the importance of having a well-driven second car," Rahal said. "We saw that at Indy (pictured, Rahal leading teammate Oriol Servia). Given the status of Graham's car, as confident as we are with that, we're going to pull out all the stops to have a second championship-caliber driver.

"Who's out there? We need to get further down the line before exploring who's available, but I feel good about running a second car."

Rahal is also confident a second driver, and any sponsors that come on board for the program, will be pleased with what they find for talent within the program.

"I think people would have to recognize the commitment by the ownership group, myself, Mike and Dave, is to have the right people, the right tools," he said. "And anyone looking at us – a sponsor, or a driver – they're going to get a great organization. We just brought in a gentleman, Tom Knox, on the business side (as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing), who's very experienced in the field and will add to the strength of our team. Compared to the last time we ran two cars, we're like an all-new organization."

Team veteran Oriol Servia has made select outings with RLLR this season and is said to be among the candidates for the second car if it comes to fruition next year.