Juri Vips will remain with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing for the 2024 IndyCar season, although how many races he will run remains an open question.

Team co-owner Bobby Rahal confirmed the news on Monday, saying that RLL has exercised its option to keep Vips with the team next year after he finished 18th and 24th in his only two IndyCar races this past season.

The 23-year-old Estonian driver drove the team’s #30 entry for the final two rounds of the 2023 season, and there was speculation that he would be announced as driver of that entry for next year.

Pietro Fittipaldi was announced as the full season driver instead, but Vips may still compete in a few races as RLL still tries to put together all the pieces needed to field a fourth car.

That process is not coming along as quickly as Bobby Rahal would like, but he is still hopeful that he will be able to field the fourth car for a few races to get Vips more seat time next season.

“Yeah, we exercised our option with Juri,” confirmed Rahal. “As I said before I don’t know when it was, several months ago. We see Juri as a long-term play as well.

“We’d like to run a fourth car. We’re not making as much progress on that as we would like. That’s certainly a hope. Maybe it’s only a selected number of races, maybe one, maybe it’s none. We’re not quite sure.

“There’s one thing we did know, is we wanted to keep Juri in our family. He did a great job for us in Portland and fab job in Laguna. It’s a shame chaos caught him at the start.

“All in all, very impressed with Juri. We certainly wanted to keep him within our organization.

“Certainly we’re not going to rush right into a fourth car for the reasons you mentioned. You’ve got to be prepared to do that, to do it correctly, to do it so that fourth car actually contributes going forward.

“I think we certainly saw some improvements last year. Obviously our poor performance in Indianapolis still is by far outweighing every other thing we did last year. I think we’re making progress on it already.

“The first thing, you’re right, we’ve got three [cars], and we’ve got three strong drivers in those cars. The first goal is to have them consistently run up front. We do that before we do anything else.

“But I do like the drivers that we have in terms of the entire lineup with Juri, obviously with Pietro [Fittipaldi], Graham [Rahal] and Christian [Lundgaard]. I think that’s a pretty strong driver lineup.

“Ganassi is running five cars. Andretti has run four cars. So people are doing it. We just have to make sure we’re in the position to do it and do it well.”

RLL fielded four cars for the first time for the 2023 Indy 500, bringing in Katherine Legge to drive the #44 entry.

Rahal said at the time that his team would only expand to four cars if it made sense to do so, and was adamant that the additional car did not play into the team’s poor performance at the historic race.

Even if he does not get much seat time next year, Vips will be working with the team to help them get a leg up on the competition as the series races with hybrid components for the first time.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has announced that it has hired Pietro Fittipaldi to drive the #30 entry for the full 2024 IndyCar season.

The 27-year-old Brazilian, and grandson of two-time Indy 500 winner Emerson Fittipaldi, will race alongside Graham Rahal and Christian Lundgaard for the upcoming season.

Fittipaldi has made nine IndyCar starts in previous years, earning his experience with Dale Coyne Racing in 2018 and 2021.

He had planned to run more races after his Indy 500 run in May of 2021, but was forced to take time off to recover from broken legs suffered in a WEC accident at Spa Francorchamps.

Once healed, he returned to sportscar racing and earned a spot as the current Haas F1 reserve driver.

Fittipaldi’s return to IndyCar will see him compete in the full 17-race season for the first time, as well as the Thermal Club exhibition race in March.

“It’s an honor to join a team of the caliber of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing,” said Fittipaldi.

“With the experience I’ve gained over the last few years in F1 and other racing series, I am looking forward to the challenge of racing in IndyCar, one of the most competitive and versatile racing series in the world.

“I want to thank Mr. Rahal, Mr. Lanigan, and Mr. Letterman for the opportunity and their trust and confidence in me. I can’t wait to get started.”

RLL evaluated two drivers in the #30 after releasing Jack Harvey midseason, placing Conor Daly and Juri Vips behind the wheel in the final three races.

The intention was to find a driver that could take the reins for this upcoming season, but instead the team has called Fittipaldi over from his recent LMP2 sportscar campaign.

“I’m very pleased that we’ve been able to have Pietro [Fittipaldi] join RLL as the driver of the #30 car,” said team co-owner Bobby Rahal.

“He has had previous experience in IndyCar in doing partial seasons with Dale Coyne Racing and impressively qualifying 13th at Indianapolis in 2021.

“I got to meet him then and since that time he has worked hard to become the reserve driver for Haas F1’s team. And from our discussions, I have been impressed with the maturity and experience that he will now bring to our program.

“I look forward to seeing what he can do over a full season of IndyCar competition in 2024.”

The 107th running on the Indianapolis 500 is still nearly a week away, but already this year’s event is proving to be one of the worst that Rahal Letterman Lanigan has ever had.

The team came away from qualifying weekend with one of their four entrants relegated out of the lineup, and then on Monday had another one crash heavily into the wall.

But even before the many Indy 500 on-track sessions got underway, RLL was in a tough spot. They have consistently struggled with setup and pace throughout the 2023 season, and have often been at a loss to explain the cause.

The team’s veteran driver Graham Rahal was quite vocal during his early season struggles, telling media multiple times that the team simply needs to do better if they plan to have competitive weekends.

Unfortunately, despite a brief resurgence at the GMR Grand Prix in early May when Christian Lundgaard took pole, the team has continued to struggle with pace.

The unthinkable happened during qualifying for the Indy 500, when one of the team’s drivers, Jack Harvey, bumped his team-mate Graham Rahal out of the race completely as time expired.

It was a gut punch, and was the first time RLL failed to qualify one of its cars since 2013.

“It’s hard to imagine it’s us in this position, but I could have told you at the [Indy 500] test in April that we’re in trouble,” Rahal said after missing the cut. “You [struggle at] that test and it’s too late, and it just came to a head today.

“I told you, [the car] was just really slow. It just sucks. It’s life. You’ve got to go through hurdles, bad ones of some sort. This is my turn.”

Team owner Bobby Rahal was bumped out of the Indy 500 himself once as a driver, failing to make the show in 1993 while driving for Rahal-Hogan Racing.

What the elder Rahal didn’t get that year was a second chance. But Graham was called up to fill in for an injured Stef Wilson in the Dreyer and Reinbold / Cusick Motorsports entry on Tuesday, just a couple days after he was bumped from the starting grid in his RLL car.

That opportunity came at the expense of even more trouble for RLL, as the crash that injured Wilson also involved the team’s fourth driver Katherine Legge and she hit the wall hard in the accident. She was uninjured, but the car suffered significant damage.

The primary #44 chassis was already barely competitive enough to make the show, qualifying in the 30th position, and now it will have to be rebuilt entirely in order to be ready for the race this upcoming weekend.

When asked if adding a fourth car to the team’s Indy 500 lineup has had any adverse effects on the team’s preparation, and ultimately pace at this year’s race, Bobby Rahal explained that the additional car is not a drain on their organization.

“Well, I don’t think we would have done this if we didn’t feel that a fourth car would contribute to the performance of the organization,” said Rahal.

“In years past, we’ve run three cars, and I would say the third car maybe really — when you run multi-car teams it’s very easy to — where one of the cars can become a drain on the organization rather than additive or contributory to the performance of the team.

“We knew we were going to run this fourth car a year ago. Hendrickson came to us, and they wanted to be in the 500 for this year, and that was last year when they made the commitment. So we’ve been spending a year preparing ourselves personnel-wise, equipment-wise.

“Do we want to run four cars in the future? You know, if the funding is correct. We have the equipment, so that’s not an issue. We have people, so that’s not an issue. I think we would.

“It would just depend what the situation would be. We certainly would not be less than three. But especially for this race, having a fourth car is I think a positive for sure.”

Of course, the team now only has three cars for the remainder of this year’s event. Having four entries may have put them in a better place than they would have been, but there was no hiding that they were still the worst-performing team in the build up to the Indy 500.

The moral victory of helping to arrange all the necessary sponsorships and agreements for their veteran driver to take over at a competing team shortly before the race does not erase the fact that he was available in the first place due to their poor performance a couple days before.

If the team was hoping that the Indy 500 was going to be the catalyst that helped them get back on track this season, they have to be doubly disappointed with how things are progressing so far.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has announced the signing of Briton’s Jack Harvey for the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season on a multi-year deal.

Harvey will be driving all 17 races in the No. 45 RLL Honda, which the team has transitioned to a full time entry for next season.

On the back of two Indy Lights campaigns which saw Harvey as runner-up, the Briton moved up to IndyCar in 2017 on a part-time contract with what is now Meyer Shank Racing.

He stayed with the team as it grew, and became the team’s full time driver for the past two seasons before announcing his departure earlier this year.

“I’m incredibly excited to be joining Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing,” said Harvey. “I’ve been working towards this moment for my entire career and I’m so honored and thankful for the trust Bobby [Rahal], Mike [Lanigan], David [Letterman] and Piers [Phillips, team president] have placed in me.

“Hy-Vee has massively committed to elevating IndyCar as a series and I’m honored to be representing their brand on track in the No. 45. I’m eager to get to work with Graham and the entire team.

“We have common goals of competing for wins and championships, and I’m confident we’ll be contending from the drop of the green flag next year.  This is an exciting next chapter, and I can’t wait to see what lies ahead.”

Though his is yet to earn his first victory, the 28-year old has grown in stature within the IndyCar ranks to become a regular challenger at the front of the field.

Harvey hopes the move to a different team will help give him the extra edge needed to begin earning race wins.

“I can’t tell you how pleased I am to welcome Jack to our team,” said Bobby Rahal. “I first heard of him during his time in Indy Lights. He has a great record of success over the years in all forms of racing so I’m pleased that he agreed to join our team.

“He and Graham will work well together and be a strong foundation for our driver lineup that will raise not only the level of each driver individually but of the team as a result.

“I respect and appreciate his commitment and work ethic to racing on and off the track which is so key. And I also respect the way he deals with people – friendly and respectful.

“I think we’re going to have a lot of success together and I very much look forward to having him with us.”

Harvey will line up alongside the incumbent Graham Rahal, with a driver for the No. 30 entry still yet to be announced after Takuma Sato’s departure.

A full field of 25 drivers took the green flag for the second race of IndyCar’s Detroit Grand Prix double header on Sunday, but it was perilously close to being only 24. 

During the final seconds of qualifying that morning, Santino Ferrucci lost control and smashed his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda hard into the concrete barriers.  From that moment, time was ticking to get a car ready in time for the green flag.

MotorsportWeek.com was there behind the scenes and dissects the herculean effort made by the entire RLLR crew to allow Ferrucci to start the race. 

The process involved hands-on work by members from three race teams, engineers from Honda, decal technicians, truck drivers, dress shirt-clad management, and even Ferrucci himself.

9:48 AM – Qualifying for race 2 of the Detroit GP

On the final lap of the Sunday morning qualifying session, Ferrucci loses control of his HyVee branded car in the final corner of the bumpy street course, smashing into the concrete wall. The impact destroys the front suspension, damages the rear wheel, and results in a penalty that costs the 23-year-old his lap times. He officially qualifies 12th, but it is not known if the car can be fixed in time.

10:13 AM – 2 Hours 31 Minutes until race start

The car arrives back at the team’s garage area approximately 15 minutes after the crash. Work begins immediately to determine if the car can be repaired. Using experience from Takuma Sato’s crash in qualifying at Texas Motor Speedway last year, the team determines within 10 minutes that the left-hand crash structure would need to be replaced. At that moment, the decision to switch to a backup car is made, and the scramble begins.

10:30 AM – 2 Hours 14 Minutes until race start

Sato’s backup car is removed from the team’s hauler and the crew immediately pours over every inch to begin preparations.  The reason Sato’s car is chosen is that his car most closely matches Ferrucci’s baseline setup. RLLR was racing three cars in Detroit, and only has five race-ready cars in their stable, leaving part-time driver Ferrucci to be assigned one of the full-time driver’s dedicated backups.

The entire engine from Ferrucci’s primary car is removed so that it can be installed on the backup chassis. Other pieces are removed as well so they can be transferred, including the Aeroscreen assembly and the mirrors.

11:17 AM – 1 Hour 27 Minutes until race start

Ferrucci’s original engine is bolted on and attached to the rear end assembly. By this time, crew members from all three RLLR teams are working on all sides – including underneath – of the car to hook up all the necessary hoses, cables, and bolts. Honda engineers finish their evaluation of the engine and determine that it should be in race-ready condition.

11:30 AM – 1 Hour 14 Minutes until race start

The crew begins to tire after having been frantically working in the warm and humid conditions. Deep in their element, however, morale is not low.  A joking call of “You get a new car, and you get a new car!” is heard from one mechanic as he adjusts the front suspension.

11:39 AM – 1 Hour 5 Minutes until race start

A new left side exhaust assembly is installed to replace the damaged one from Ferrucci’s primary car. The floor is installed on the right side of the car, and coordination continues between over a dozen skilled crew members. Work continues to attach all the linkages from the cockpit to the 700 horsepower Honda engine.

11:48 AM – 56 Minutes until race start

Ferrucci watches on as Sato’s backup car is transformed into his new ride. Discussions take place to go over a revised pre-race gameplan.  Additional components from Ferrucci’s primary car are installed to get as close to his preferred setup as possible.

11:50 AM – 54 Minutes until race start

Side mirrors and the underside skid plates are installed. The custom molded driver seat is installed, as well as other cockpit padding that is necessary to accommodate a different driver. Sato and Ferrucci are similar in height, but differences in body shape and driving position must be accounted for.

11:53 AM – 51 Minutes until race start

Fuel is added for the first time and, after some initial trouble, the engine is fired. Honda engineers look through the data streaming from the car and see that everything seems normal. Multiple IndyCar series officials are on-hand to make sure that all the hard work is being done in accordance with the rules. They also answer detailed questions about protocols in real-time, helping to ensure the crew can keep working at full speed.

12:07 PM – 37 Minutes until race start

Ferrucci walks over discuss the procedure with the IndyCar officials. Morale among the crew seems higher as the engine is switched on a few more times to confirm the multitude of systems. Replacement HyVee vinyl decals are placed on the sidepods, although many of the colors of Sato’s livery will remain as they are.

12:09 PM – 35 Minutes until race start

The race-ready driver notices a crewmember struggling to fit a body panel, and jumps in to assist. Ferrucci is fully aware of how slim their margins remain, and works to ensure not a single minute is wasted. Crew members for Sato and Graham Rahal leave to help prepare their own cars, leaving the No. 45 crew on its own to finish the last of the tasks.

It is noted that the replacement exhaust tip is slightly askew and is touching the newly installed side panel. After discussions with among a few of the crew, it is determined that it will not pose a problem and work can continue in other areas.

12:12 PM – 32 Minutes until race start

Tires are fitted and the car is prepared to be lowered off the jack stands. Work continues on the front suspension, but the rear half of the car only needs to have the engine cover installed to cover all the sensitive components.

Then…disaster!

12:20 PM – 24 Minutes until race start

As the car is lowered from the jacks, a Honda technician notices a stream of fluid from underneath the car. An initial determination that the fluid is a water leak proves to be incorrect. It’s fuel.

Stress levels jump a couple notches as a different Honda engineer quickly isolates the problem to the right side. Fuel is drained from the car and the source of the leak is spotted. After requesting tools and a replacement part, the engineer is able to make the necessary swap in just a few minutes. Repressurization of the fuel system seems to confirm that the crisis was averted.

12:27 PM – 17 Minutes until race start

The crowds of fans that had gathered to watch the coordinated chaos are parted and the car is wheeled out of the tent. Discussions are heard among the crew about setup adjustments that were not completed, but the consensus is that getting the car to the grid in time must take priority.  The car is wheeled to the pit lane, which is over one-third of a mile away.

The car arrives in position to the applause of rival teams who can fully appreciate what the squad has achieved. Ferrucci finally gets a chance to climb in the car to make sure everything feels correct, mere minutes before the command to start engines is called out at 12:44 PM.

Race Start

Amazingly, there are no troubles noted with the car. Ferrucci drives away for the formation laps and is able to immediately start making passes in his new car once the green flag flies. Even with an incomplete setup applied to the car, Ferrucci is able to muscle his way around the 2.35-mile temporary course as well as anybody. He even went on to claim a top 10 finish with the only indication that he was diving a backup car being the piecemeal bodywork colors that adorned the No. 45 car.

The incredible achievement of the entire Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team is easy to overlook, but their fast and decisive actions were the only thing that allowed them to make the race. The time from when the team decided to go to the backup car until said car rolled out of the garage area ready to race was only 2 hours 13 minutes.

Ricardo Nault, RLLR Team Manager, acknowledged that all three teams work together often, but have never been pushed this way before. He also pointed out that the Honda engineers were critical in inspecting and readying the engine for the race. Without everyone’s help, he reckons there is no way they would have made it to the grid in time. As it was, they only had a couple minutes to spare.

Thank you to Ricardo Nault and the rest of the RLLR team for providing the additional insight needed to make this feature possible.

Takuma Sato has suggested that Rahal Letterman Lanigan needs to expand to a three-car team in order to take a competitive step forward in the NTT IndyCar Series.

The team is currently building a new state-of-the-art headquarters in Zionsville, Indiana which is set for completion in 2022 and will bring together both its IndyCar and IMSA teams under one roof.

RLL has toyed with the idea of running a permanent third car but has not done so since 2006.

Sato was previously part of a large team when he was one of four full-time entries with Andretti in 2017.

Sato enters his fourth season with RLL and has built up a solid relationship with team-mate Graham Rahal, but would like to see another driver join the team on a permanent basis.

“I’d love to have more team-mates, but that’s something that the team should make a decision on,” said the two-time Indy 500 winner.

“At the moment Graham and I working extremely close together to building the relationship and the consistency through the platform at Rahal become stronger and stronger.

“Hopefully we can continue this good job, but to be better, I think we need to expand for sure.”

“I think it’s beneficial to have multiple team-mates,” added the 44-year old.

“I’ve been going through the experience with Andretti Autosport as you may know.

“Of course the team-mates is always helping each other because we dividing the program for back-to-back. If you have two cars, if you have three cars, if you have five cars, with one session, you basically double the information.

“It is definitely valuable. But equally the quality control, the build spec, and I think to manage all the data and the engineers, all the things, also becomes more comprehensive as long as you have [a big] enough environment and resources to help solve this matter of the huge data.”

The 2021 IndyCar season is set to get underway at Barber Motorsports Park on April 18 – an event which Sato dominated in 2019.

Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato was part of a ceremony in Indianapolis today to unveil his likeness on the prestigious Borg-Warner Trophy.

Sato won last year’s Indy 500, which was run in August for the first time, and earned the honor of having his face placed on the trophy for a second time.

To get an accurate likeness, Sato sat down with sculptor William Behrends in the offseason to have an updated relief image created, which was then added to the base of the trophy alongside many other famous faces.

The five-foot tall Borg-Warner Trophy was first introduced as the prize for the infamous race in 1935, and is decorated with the sculpted faces of all 104 past winners.

“I am thrilled to once again have my face become a permanent fixture on the Borg-Warner Trophy,” Sato said.

“William’s work is extraordinary, and it is amazing how much detail he can fit into the sterling silver sculptures.

“The effort he puts into making each individual winners’ personality and character is quite special, and it was an honor to experience this thorough and remarkable process once again.”

Sato has been thoroughly enjoying his time as the reigning Indy 500 champion, sitting down for numerous interviews and traveling with his winning car to his native Japan.

Additionally, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has unveiled a special livery that will be on Sato’s car for this year’s running of the great race.

The blue and orange PeopleReady design will be reminiscent of team founder Bobby Rahal’s championship-winning livery from 1992.

After being delayed until April last season amid extraordinary circumstances, this year’s Indy 500 will once again be hosted in its traditional slot in late May.

The 2021 IndyCar season is due to begin with four races across three weekends, with the opening round from Barber Motorsports Park taking place on April 18.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing announced today it is partnering with the newly formed Citrone/Buhl Autosport to run IndyCar entries in the GMR Grand Prix and Indianapolis 500.

Driving duties for the team will fulfilled by Spencer Pigot who raced for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing for three races in 2016, including that year’s Indy 500.

Most recently Pigot has raced two full time seasons for Ed Carpenter Racing, but was replaced by rookie Rinus Veekay for this upcoming IndyCar season despite having a couple top-five finishes last season.

“I’m very excited to join Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing with Citrone/Buhl Autosport for this year’s GMR Grand Prix and Indianapolis 500,” said Pigot.

“I ran my first IndyCar series race and Indy 500 with RLL in 2016 so it will be nice to return to a team with some familiar faces.

“I can’t thank everyone at RLL and Citrone/Buhl Autosport enough for their efforts in putting this deal together and the opportunity to compete in another Indy 500. I can’t wait for May!”

Co-owner of Citrone/Buhl Autosport Robbie Buhl said, “We all want to win and this set up allows us to learn in an accelerated way.”

“We feel great about our partnership. You obviously look back at your own experiences as a driver and with Spencer having come up through the ranks leading to Indy car and winning the Pro Mazda and Indy Lights championships like he did shows that he can win.”

Citrone/Buhl Autosport announced their racing program last week as a partnership between father and son Robert and Nick Citrone and Tom and Robbie Buhl, the latter of which has 78 CART and IndyCar series starts as a driver.

With these additional details confirmed the team will be working towards its on-track debut in just over two months for the GMR Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.