ZIONSVILLE, Ind. — Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing announced Wednesday 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 (Ore.) on Aug. 25.
He competed for the team in Portland and Laguna Seca (Calif.) 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.
“I’m very grateful to the team for giving me this opportunity,” Vips said. “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.”
This will mark his second race at Portland Int’l Raceway, where he made his series debut last year. 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.
“We’re pleased to be able to run Juri in Portland for a number of reasons,” Bobby Rahal, co-owner of RLL said. “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.”