IndyCar season starts early for Rahal-Letterman

Rahal Letterman Racing kicked off its 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series campaign with a test session to end 2014. The one-day test at Barber Motorsports Park near Birmingham, Ala., on Nov. 10, allowed driver Graham Rahal to work with new race engineer Eddie Jones for the first time.

"It was a really good, and extremely productive day," said Rahal, the son of 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner and team owner Bobby Rahal. "All things considered, I think the team is having fun again. With the new personnel we have in place, I think everyone is enjoying themselves and I think our teamwork showed it today and I'm excited about that. We were very efficient, we accomplished a lot and we shaved a considerable amount of time, just over a second, off of what was done at the race.

"I feel like we're in a good spot. Eddie (Jones) is really very open to many ideas and he's ready for anything that can improve the car and improve our team. I think there are some really good days ahead of us."

Graham Rahal completed a trouble-free day of testing on the 2.38-mile Barber Motorsports Park. He completed a total of 83 laps in what was his first time on track since the 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series season finale at Auto Club Speedway on August 30.

Engineer, meet your driver

"The test went very well," added race engineer Eddie Jones. "It was very productive. We came here with a pretty good plan and we followed it through and made some good strides for a successful day. We gathered some useful data for us to continue our development with so all in all it was a very good test.

"Graham was impressive as usual with great concentration and ran quickly even though he hadn't been in the car for a while. We know that the new aero package will have more downforce, but we can still work on the mechanical package of the car and that's what we concentrated on. It was also important to get out there and run with Graham for the first time and establish a rapport and I am pleased with the result."

RLR