NHLR and Rahal Completed One Day Test at Richmond Today
“It was a good day for us," said Rahal, who completed 276 laps. “We made some big strides which will help us get closer to the frontrunners. We ought to have a good baseline setup to battle for the win here when we come back next year. I think our lap times were competitive with Tony’s although it’s hard to tell what sort of test program they were working on since they were testing tires. Overall it was good to get back on track to test and start working on 2009."
Due to the demanding 2008 IndyCar Series race schedule and transition to a new racing series this year, the team was unable to test as much as they would have liked during the season. The team’s next test will take place at the 1.5-mile, high-banked Texas Motor Speedway oval next Tuesday, September 30. Both Rahal and McDonald’s driver Justin Wilson will participate in that test.
The 2008 IndyCar Series season continues with a non-points paying race Oct. 26 at Surfers Paradise, Australia. The Nikon Indy 300 will be telecast live in High Definition at 10:30 p.m. (EDT) Oct. 25 by ESPN Classic and will re-air at 11 p.m. Oct. 26 on ESPN2. NHLR has won six events in Surfer’s Paradise including the last two in 2006 and 2007 with Sebastien Bourdais, who clinched his third and fourth consecutive titles, respectively, in Australia. Rahal set the fastest race lap there last year and finished 11th for the team while Wilson finished second to Bourdais while driving for RuSPORT.