MOORESVILLE, N.C. — There will come a day when Graham Rahal will be part of management at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, but for now, he will remain in the cockpit of the No. 15 Honda.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing announced a new multi-year agreement that will see Rahal continue to compete for the team in the NTT IndyCar Series.
The announcement was made on Monday morning.
“I’m extremely excited to get a new multi-year agreement in place and hopefully continue to build and improve the team,” said the son of team co-owner Bobby Rahal. “At the end of the season, we saw some glimpses of what we can and should be.
“Obviously, there is a lot of work still to be done to ensure that we continue to grow and get ourselves in a place for continuous success but I’m excited about the signs that I saw.
“I’m also excited to continue working with the tremendous partners that we have. It was important to me to continue to represent them and hopefully do a great job for them as we go forward. I’m glad that we were able to come together with Mike, my dad, David (Letterman) and everyone at the organization to continue together.”
Rahal earned two of the final four poles of this season, made three front row starts and returned to the podium at the Gallagher Grand Prix at Indianapolis with a second-place finish in what was the closest finish recorded on the road course with a margin of 0.4779 to the winner, Scott Dixon, after he led a race-high 36 laps.
“We are pleased to have been able to come to an agreement with Graham to drive for the team for the coming years,” said team co-owner Bobby Rahal. “Clearly, when we’ve given him a car that he likes he shows what he can do by running up front. Two pole positions, really within a fraction of a second for a third this year and led many laps.
“All of that should reaffirm to everyone what he is capable of. He’s as driven as ever to win races and it’s exciting to watch. Clearly the efforts of the team over the off season are to ensure we have competitive cars at every race next year, including the Indy 500.
Rahal’s rookie season of IndyCar competition was in 2007 and he joined RLL full time in 2013.
Since that time, he has earned three of his five career poles and five of his six career wins with RLL and contended for the championship in the final race of the 2015 season from a second-place rank.
Rahal joins teammates Christian Lundgaard and Pietro Fittipaldi for RLL’s 2024 IndyCar lineup.
“I have worked with Graham for the last 18 years, first as a 17-year-old in the Atlantic Series and many years as an IndyCar driver,” said team co-owner Michael Lanigan. “Watching him grow and excel not only in racing, but also off the track, has been very impressive. Signing him with RLL will certainly continue to enhance the team’s ability to succeed in the competitive world we race in.
“His experience and knowledge in all aspects of racing is one the team will take full advantage of.”