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Rahal proud to be top Honda again

Graham Rahal says he’s proud that his runner-up finish at Sonoma enabled him to finish the year as top Honda entry in the IndyCar points table for the second season in succession.

Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda

Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda

Rainier Ehrhardt

Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda and father Bobby Rahal
Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda
Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda
Podium: race winner and 2016 champion Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske Chevrolet, second place Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, third place Juan Pablo Montoya, Team Penske Chevrolet
Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda
Race winner Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda

Rahal was Team Penske’s closest challenger both in qualifying and also through the second half of the race. He eventually finished a little over three seconds behind winner and new champion Simon Pagenaud, who beat him to the Formula Atlantic title 10 years ago.

It boosted the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda team to fifth in the championship, beaten only by three Team Penske-Chevrolets, and Josef Newgarden’s Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevy entry.

Said Rahal: “It was a great way to finish the season. We would have liked to get another win but we were struggling with the rear of the car. I wanted to get Pagenaud for the win but when I would get close, my car would get massively loose. I thought it was just best that I salvage a second place than do something stupid.

Although he won only one race this year, compared with the two last season that helped him to fourth in the title race, Rahal believes that in terms of pace, this had been the more convincing year.

“Overall we had our ups and downs this season,” he said, “but I'm really proud of this team and proud to be the top Honda once again. We led the charge for them the last couple of years and they did a great job.

“We're a one-car team and obviously today we were fighting with the big boys – with Penske – who is the standard. So to run like we did means a lot. It feels great to go into the off-season like this.

“Once again we proved that with the quality of the people we have in this organization, keeping their heads down and working hard puts us in the position to fight for wins. I'm proud and honored to work with these guys. We will be better next year.”

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