IndyCar 2015 team preview: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing - MotorSportsTalk

It’s year three of Graham Rahal at his father Bobby’s Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team. Armed with another fresh amount of new personnel and with a single-car focus, the goal is to break out of the low teens on a regular basis throughout the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series.

Team: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Engine/aero kits: Honda
Sponsors: Mi-Jack/D-A Lubricant/Steak ‘n Shake (No. 15)

2014 STATS

Races: 18
Wins: 0
Podiums: 1 (Rahal)
Pole Positions: 0
Fastest Laps: 0
Points: 479 (Rahal 345, Servia 88, Filippi 46)
Laps Led: 35 (Rahal 28, Servia 7)
Championship Position: 19^th (Rahal), 24^th (Servia), 28^th (Filippi)

2015 LINEUP (Engineer in parentheses)

15 Graham Rahal (Eddie Jones)

2014 RECAP (Rahal driver recap)

Despite what on paper looked to be all the ingredients for a big 2014, the season was once again a struggle for RLL Racing and Graham Rahal. Not that the issues were anyone’s fault, but it came down to a combination of factors – a tight field, some missed setups and an unhealthy amount of poor luck – that contributed to another challenging campaign. Rahal again banked a single runner-up finish – Detroit race one as opposed to Long Beach in 2013 – but was otherwise a regular outside the top-five.

2015 OUTLOOK

One of IndyCar’s two remaining full season single-car teams has hit the reset button again. Gone in the overall RLL team picture are Bill Pappas, Mitch Davis and John Dick; in their place are Uwe Wolf, Mike Talbott and Martin Pare. Rahal will work with Eddie Jones, a veteran team engineer. Thus far Rahal has hailed the new personnel group as he’s worked with Talbott and Pare before, and Jones when he was on the team’s sister car. For now, a second car isn’t being added and would figure to appear only at the Indianapolis 500. Graham’s already engaged to NHRA Funny Car star Courtney Force over the offseason and seems in good spirits. Overall, the team doesn’t want to detract from Graham’s primary effort, and will look for more regular podium and top-five results this year.

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An IndyCar executive said there is “absolutely” disappointment that its long-awaited video game recently was delayed beyond its target date, but the series remains optimistic about the new title.

“Well, I don’t know how quick it will be, but the whole situation is important to us,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said during a news conference Monday morning to announce IndyCar’s NTT title sponsorship. “Motorsport Games has spent a lot of money, a lot of effort to create an IndyCar title. What we’ve seen of that effort, which is not completely obvious, is very reassuring.

“I think it’s going to be outstanding. That’s our shared objective, that when it is released, it’s just widely accepted. A great credit both to IndyCar racing, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, something that our fans love.”

In June 2021, IndyCar announced a new partnership with Motorsport Games to create and distribute an IndyCar video game for the PC and Xbox and PlayStation consoles in 2023.

But during an earnings call last week, Motorsport Games said the IndyCar game had been delayed to 2024 to ensure high quality.

Somewhat compounding the delay is that IndyCar’s license for iRacing expired after the end of the 2022 season because of its exclusive agreement with Motorsport Games.

That’s resulted in significant changes for IndyCar on iRacing, which had provided a high-profile way for the series to stay visible during its 2020 shutdown from the pandemic. (Players still can race an unbranded car but don’t race on current IndyCar tracks, nor can they stream).

That’s helped ratchet up the attention on having a video game outlet for IndyCar.

“I wish we had an IndyCar title 10 years ago,” said Miles, who has been working with the organization since 2013. “We’ve been close, but we’ve had these I think speed bumps.”

IndyCar is hopeful the Motorsports Game edition will be ready at the start of 2024. Miles hinted that beta versions could be unveiled to reporters ahead of the time “to begin to show the progress in a narrow way to make sure we’ve got it right, to test the progress so that we’re ready when they’re ready.”

It’s been nearly 18 years since the release of the most recent IndyCar video game for console or PC.

“(We) better get it right,” Miles said. “It’s something we’re very close to and continue to think about what it is to make sure we get it over the line in due course.”