Graham Rahal has an idea of what characteristics his next teammate will have at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL)in 2025.
When the checkered flag falls next weekend at Nashville Superspeedway, it will mark an end of the team's current lineup consisting of Christian Lundgaard, Pietro Fittipaldi and Rahal. Lundgaard is bound for Arrow McLaren to replace Alexander Rossi and complete the team’s roster for next year alongside Pato O’Ward and Nolan Siegel.
Beyond Rahal, it remains a bit of an unknown what RLL will look like for 2025, but there is an idea of what he’s looking for in a teammate.
“I think what I'm looking for is somebody that helps add to the equation,” said Rahal, 35.
“We as a team need to be moving forward, and we need to improve. And that's the gist of it. I want somebody that's going to be able to come in and help me. And so help not only me, but help the team.
“We need to move forward. We need to try different things. We need to get better. We found some good stuff at St. Louis [Gateway]. … But it would be great to have somebody with experience. I have not been shy about that.”
Eying Rossi?
Among the notable free agents Rahal pointed out was the very person his soon-to-be-ex-teammate is replacing: Rossi.
“It would be great to have a guy like Alex, but obviously Pietro is doing a much better job,” Rahal continued. “I think what people don't see about Pietro, too, is his race pace has always been very strong. He's a good racer. You know, qualifying pace, things like that are going to improve. But his race pace is very tough, meaning good. Like he's a tough guy; when he's behind you, he's on you like a little bulldog.”
Rahal also extended thoughts to Juri Vips, the former Red Bull reserve driver who was dropped from after using a racial slur on a live gaming stream in 2022. After making two starts with RLL at the end of last season, Vips was retained as the team’s development driver this year, also making a one-off appearance as part of a fourth entry last month at Portland.
“And then, lastly, I've said all along Juri deserves a shot; and if it's not with us, I hope somebody looks at Juri because Juri is a professional,” Rahal said.
“And I understand what's happened in the past, but we need to all move on. We've made mistakes in life; we gotta move forward, and Juri is a talented, talented human being that deserves an opportunity, and I thought last weekend he was a pro. He came in; he was fast right away, struggled a little bit in qualifying, struggled a little bit in the race, but those things are to be expected.
“So let's see what happens here, man. I don't know right now where we're at as a team. I don't know, you know, where things are going to end up. But there's a lot of great options out there, for sure.”
In circling back to Rossi, Rahal provided more insight while also acknowledging that he could eventually find himself potentially making team decisions similar to his father, 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal, one of three co-owners of RLL.
“I'm a cheerleader for him [Rossi],” Rahal said. “I always have been, kept in touch with him very closely since the Andretti days and where he could go. Look, guys, the facts are the facts, which is maybe some day I make these decisions, but that day is not today. So, you know, I can have my opinions, I can say my piece; that doesn't mean that's what's going to happen.”
