The team retained Rahal and Sato for a second consecutive season in 2019 and after the results the team will bring these drivers back for 2020. The 2019 season saw Rahal Letterman Langian Racing pick up its first pole position in two seasons, its first front row sweep since 2005, its fifth consecutive season with a victory and it was the first time the team had two drivers finish in the top ten of the championship since 2004.
2019 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Preview
Wins: 2 (Barber, Gateway)
Poles: 2 (Barber, Texas)
Championship Finishes: 9th (Takuma Sato), 10th (Graham Rahal)
2020 Drivers:
Graham Rahal - #15 United Rentals Honda
The 2019 season started on a lukewarm note for Rahal. He started tenth at St. Petersburg and ended up 12th. He responded at Austin, starting tenth and finishing fourth.
Barber saw Rahal start second and remain on the heels of Takuma Sato for that first stint but Rahal suffered electrical problems on his first stop and took him out of contention for a possible race victory. He had another bounce back race at Long Beach, starting sixth and finishing fourth after being penalized for a blocking call while running third on the final lap. He had another good race at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, finishing ninth.
Rahal had one of his strongest Indianapolis 500s and he was fighting for a top five finish before contact with Sébastien Bourdais in turn three took both drivers out of the race. Once again, Rahal bounced back with a pair of seventh place finishes at Belle Isle, the second of which came after starting 22nd. He ended spring with a strong third place finish at Texas.
Rahal started summer with a fourth place finish at Road America and he continued his strong run of results with finishes of ninth, eighth, ninth and ninth at Toronto, Iowa, Mid-Ohio and Pocono respectively.
The season ended on a down note. Exhaust issues ended his race early at Gateway. He was the cause of the turn one lap one accident at Portland when he barreled into Conor Daly and Zach Veach and he ended his season the way it started with a 12th place finish at Laguna Seca.
Numbers to Remember:
12: Times Rahal was the top RLLR finisher in 17 races in 2019.
4: Retirements in the five races Rahal was not the best RLLR finisher.
9: Laps led in 2019, Rahal's fewest in a season since six laps led in 2013.
2: Rahal has only led more than 30 laps in a season twice in his career, 76 laps in 2015 and 110 laps in 2017.
Predictions/Goals:
I think the goal is for Rahal to contribute more than he has the last few seasons.
Rahal was only one position behind Takuma Sato in the championship and that was after Rahal beat him in finishes in 12 of 17 races. At Foyt, Andretti, Ganassi, SPM, Coyne and Penske the driver who was the top finisher the most was the top driver in the championship in each team and some of those were similar records to Rahal over Sato. Tony Kanaan, Alexander Rossi and Sébastien Bourdais were the top finishers 11 times at Foyt, Andretti and Coyne respectively. Scott Dixon was the top finisher 13 times. James Hinchcliffe was the top finisher 14 times. Josef Newgarden was the top Penske finisher seven times.
It wasn't for a lack of effort. Rahal had 11 top ten finishes, behind only Simon Pagenaud, Rossi and Newgarden and as many as Dixon and Will Power. Rahal and Sato each had four top five finishes. The big difference is the two victories and four podium finishes in Sato's favor compared to Rahal's one podium finish.
Rahal needs to have another breakout season. He needs a year where when he is the top RLLR driver he is in contention for race victory. He needs to lead more laps. He needs more top five finishes. He needs to win at least one race.
The consistency is there and it has been there for the last few seasons but we have seen that consistency slip further down the order. It has gone from a driver that is competing from a championship to a driver competing for the top five of the championship to a driver that is hanging on just for the top ten of the championship despite putting up numbers that are better than his teammate and are level to the other championship contenders.
This has to be the season where Rahal stops the trend of declining championship finish and where he can be challenging for more victories.
Takuma Sato - #30 Panasonic/Mi-Jack Honda
Gearbox problems hindered Sato at St. Petersburg, ending his day after 75 laps but, like Rahal, Sato bounced back to finish seventh at Austin.
Barber saw Sato take pole position and dominant the race, leading 74 laps of 90 laps. No one came close to Sato in this race as the team stayed on top of tire degradation. That was followed with an eighth place finish at Long Beach. A few off-road excursion left Sato in 14th at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
The Indianapolis 500 was a whirlwind day for Sato. At one point he was 31st and one lap down. At the checkered flag he was third. The handful of cautions got Sato back into the race and his final pit stop coming just prior to the final caution for his teammate's accident put Sato into a position to be contending for the race victory and when up with the big boys Sato did not disappoint. He held his own against the like of Josef Newgarden, Ed Carpenter and Will Power but just could not quite get ahead of Simon Pagenaud and Alexander Rossi.
Sato was third in the first Belle Isle race after being on top of the wet conditions and it was his third podium finish of the season, the most he has had in a season. The second Motor City race saw Sato end on a low note in 13th. He picked up another pole position at Texas and he was fast but slid through his pit stall on his first stop, clipped his tire changer, damaged his car and ruined his race before it had really gotten going.
While Sato finished tenth at Road America, the summer saw another Sato string of poor results with finishes of 22nd, 20th, 19th and 21st, the last of which was the infamous Pocono accident that left a lot of people pointing the finger at Sato.
The next race was Gateway and Sato started fifth but started slow, sliding to the back of the field. Cautions kept coming, keeping Sato in the race and the final caution came before Sato's final pit stop. This cycled him to the race lead and he held from there, holding off Ed Carpenter by 0.040 seconds. Sato was 15th at Portland after suffering damage early and he was spun at Laguna Seca when Santino Ferrucci got into him and this dropped Sato to a 21st place finish and it dropped him from sixth in the championship to ninth.
Numbers to Remember:
200: Laps led in 2019, Sato's most in a single season.
9: Lead lap finishes in 2019, the third consecutive season Sato has had nine lead lap finishes.
13: Races running at the finish in 2019, matching his career best for the third time in four seasons.
4: Podium finishes in 2019, Sato's most in a single season.
Predictions/Goals:
The goal should be to continue what he did in 2019 but with plenty of improvements.
Sato won two races, including a brilliant performance at Barber, but he was the top RLLR finisher only five times. Four of those were when Rahal's races ended early.
While 2019 was arguably the best of Sato's career, he had only two top ten finishes in the final ten races of the season, his victory at Gateway and tenth at Road America. His average finish in the final ten races was 15.7 and he had five finishes of 19th or worse. This wasn't the first time Sato has started with good results but had the second half of the year full of retirements. It is kind of a trend in his career he has to fix.
Sato may win a race and have a few more podium finishes but most of his seasons have these large dips in results. Every season of Sato's IndyCar career has had at least one stretch where he finishes outside the top fifteen in three consecutive races. Most seasons have had worst stretches. In 2010, he had stretches of eight and four races without a top fifteen race. In 2012, he had a four-race stretch. In 2013, he had an eight-race stretch, seven of which were finishes of 20th or worse. He had a nine-race stretch in 2014. In 2015, he had stretches of three races and four races. In 2017, he had two stretches of three races. Last year, it was a four-race stretch.
For years I was saying Sato was too old to become a championship-contender, and I am going to stand by that, but we have seen Sato gain the ability to harness his ability and pick up at least one victory a season for three consecutive seasons. If he can do that than he has to be able to pick up more finishes in the top half of the field on a consistent basis.
I don't think that is going to happen. I am not sure Sato can win a race for a fourth consecutive season. I think this will be a season where he finishes outside the top ten of the championship and behind his teammate in the championship.
The 2020 NTT IndyCar Series season opens on Sunday March 15th with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. NBCSN's coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. ET.
