Rahal to miss Homestead race
Graham Rahal will miss the first race of the reunified IRL IndyCar Series at Homestead this weekend because his team haven't been able to repair his car in time following his heavy crash in testing at the circuit on Tuesday
The 19-year-old crashed at turn one during the evening session and his Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing car suffered extensive damage.
There weren't enough spare parts, or time, available to the team to rebuild the car in time for this weekend's event.
"It's disappointing that we're not going to be racing in the season opener," said Rahal. "It will be tough not to be out there, but we need to take it slowly and not rush putting it back together.
"Even if we had everything available, there aren't enough hours before the first practice session to get the car put back together."
The team will run one car at Homestead, for Justin Wilson, but hope to have Rahal's car ready for the second round at St Petersburg the following weekend.
"I'm just going to pay attention to what's going on with Justin," added Rahal. "I'll probably watch some of the race from the spotters stand to get another perspective for Kansas, which will now be my first oval race."
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