Rahal's speed rewarded with Barber podium, but team still looking for answers

Graham Rahal's 30th career podium was worthy of celebration, coming off the back of a strong opening to the NTT IndyCar Series season for the Rahal Letterman Lanigan driver.

Rahal was quick throughout last weekend's visit to Barber Motorsports Park, and spent most of the race running second to eventual winner Alex Palou before a charging Christian Lundgaard relegated Rahal to third in the final minutes.

“It's a great reward for the guys and gals,” he said of the RLL crew. “Everybody has worked so hard to be back here. Heard all the noise and B.S. that we get to hear all the time. All weekend the car was in really good shape, very, very competitive, very comfortable. The race is actually the most challenging (the car) was. It was extremely stable.

“In the race, I was losing the rear a lot no matter what I felt like I could do on tire degradation. That's been our Achilles' heel so far this year. We've got some work to do. I'm super happy for everybody on the 15. Great pit stops, great strategy with Brian [Barnhart]. We'll carry this momentum into the break here a little bit, and get ready for Long Beach.”

With a second-row qualifying performance at Phoenix, the ninth-place result that followed, and the start and finish of third at Barber, Rahal sits 12th in the championship, just four points outside the top 10.

Looking at the bigger picture, Rahal’s No. 15 Honda was the clear best within RLL's three-car program, and while that was a welcome development for Rahal himself, it also underscored the unexplained disparity between his car and the No. 45 Honda driven by Louis Foster and the No. 47 Honda of Mick Schumacher.

Rahal’s impressive form in qualifying was countered by the distance to Schumacher, who started 20th, and Foster, who started 22nd. Searching for answers, both of Rahal’s teammates tried the No. 15’s chassis setup in the pre-race warmup but were unable to make progress in the race. Amstall leaving the pits on his second stop left Schumacher 24th at the finish, one position ahead of Foster, who endured a dreadful day –complete with an extra pit stop – that relegated him to 25th and last.

Amid the high of capturing the team’s first podium of the season, Rahal says learning why his No. 15 entry is consistently fast, and clear of the Nos. 45 and 47. is the main priority in the weeks ahead.

“It's a good relief this early in the year to have a good result,” he said. “Now, our job is to go analyze and figure out why. What changes did we make to put our car so much further into the window than most other road course races, and how can we take that to the GP and Indy in particular?”