IndyCar News: Juri Vips to drive again for RLL at Portland
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) announced today that Estonian driver Juri Vips will return to NTT INDYCAR SERIES competition for his third start with the team at the BitNile.com Grand Prix of Portland on August 25.
Vips competed for the team in Portland and Laguna Seca in 2023 and will pilot the No. 75 AMADA Honda in the team’s fourth entry in Portland, along with those for Graham Rahal, Pietro Fittipaldi and Christian Lundgaard.
This will mark his second race at Portland International Raceway, where he made his series debut in 2023. He started and finished 18th and used that experience to run up front the following weekend at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca where he was sixth fastest in Practice 1 and a mere -0.05 from advancing to the Firestone Fast Six on Saturday, qualifying seventh. After a six-grid penalty in the race for an unapproved engine change, he started 13th and was collected in a multi-car crash on the opening lap but soldiered on to finish 24th.
Vips first tested an Indy car for RLL on October 12, 2022, at Sebring International Raceway and again at Barber Motorsports Park on March 13, 2023, and has performed static simulator testing for RLL since 2023. AMADA was also the primary sponsor of the No. 75 Honda-powered entry for Takuma Sato at the 2024 Indianapolis 500.
The 2024 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season resumes with the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 on August 17 which will be broadcast live on USA beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET. All on-track action can be seen on NBC’s Peacock Premium streaming service. For more information about the series or team, visit www.indycar.com and www.rahal.com.
QUOTEBOARD:
BOBBY RAHAL, co-owner of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing: “We’re pleased to be able to run Juri in Portland for a number of reasons. For one, he showed at both Portland and Laguna Seca last year that he certainly has the pace to feature in any event he runs with us. He has done a lot of work for us in the simulator this year, which has helped us understand the hybrid system, so it’s nice to reward him for his effort. I’m hopeful that this will lead to more races for him with RLL.”
JURI VIPS, driver of the No. 75 AMADA Honda at Portland: “I’m very grateful to the team for giving me this opportunity. I have been working closely with the team on the simulator program and it has been a year since I have been in the car, but I’m confident that the experience gained last year at Portland and Laguna Seca will help me to get up to speed quickly. It will still be a very big challenge and one I am very much looking forward to.”