IndyCar - Service Central Race Report

EDMONTON, July 25, 2011: Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing (SCCGR) driver Graham Rahal finished 25th in the Edmonton Indy.

Rahal, who scored his best finish of third on the 2.256-mile street course in 2007, turned his first laps in the No. 38 Service Central car on the new Edmonton City Centre Airport track layout on Saturday after Friday’s practice session was canceled due to inclement weather. The 22-year-old completed his fourth qualifying attempt on the Edmonton course with a best time of 1:19.0682 seconds and lined up 13th on the 26-car starting grid for the 80-lap race.

The Service Central team took the green flag for the Edmonton Indy feeling confident after posting the sixth-fastest time during the morning warm-up session. However, Rahal was ill-fated when another car made contact with the No. 38 during the first lap, causing severe damage to the rear wing, suspension and gear box. The incident ended the day for the Service Central team and resulted in a 25th-place finish.

With the finish, Rahal remains eighth in the IZOD IndyCar Series points standings, 170 markers behind leader Dario Franchitti.

Up next for Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing is the Honda Indy 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Sunday, August 7, 2011 (2:00 p.m. ET, VERSUS).

SCCGR Quoteboard:

Graham Rahal: “It was a really tough day for the Service Central team. We had a really good car and we were really promising in warm-ups. I thought we were going to have a really good run today. We had better tires than others do to the unfortunate fact that we didn’t make it to the second round of qualifying. I thought we’d have a good run; I knew the No. 38 Service Central car was fast and I was playing it safe on the first lap of the race. I was just inside of James Hinchcliffe, trying to protect the inside and Alex Tagliani was in too deep and just went straight through me. We’re going to have some work to do before we head to the test at Mid-Ohio next week.”