RACE: National Runoffs: Graham Rahal final qualifying report

Rahal Sets a New Track Record in Earning the Pole For Friday's Formula Atlantic Race At the Runoffs at Mid-Ohio

LEXINGTON, Ohio, Sept. 22 - Thursday Graham Rahal decimated the SCCA Formula Atlantic nationals track record at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course when he won the pole for Friday's Formula Atlantic race at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs presented by Kohler.

The 16-year-old driver from New Albany, Ohio ran a sizzling lap of 1:16.600 (106.120 mph) around the 2.4-mile, 15-turn road course in his Rahal Letterman Racing Swift 014 No. 3 sponsored by The Bobby Rahal Automotive Group, Bosch, Renier Construction and Norwalk Furniture.

His closest rival, Dan Selznick, was almost a second and a half slower with a 1:18.098 that he ran on Tuesday.

Rahal's fastest lap was also more than two seconds faster than the previous fastest lap for the class here, which was a 1:18.772 set by Dan Cobb last year in another Swift.

"The car handled really well," Rahal said after Thursday's qualifying session.

"We came here with a good baseline set-up, and we haven't changed a single thing all week," he noted. "We'll make some little changes before tomorrow's race, but they definitely won't be major things.

"Tomorrow we have to get a good start, maintain our speed, hopefully have a good margin over second place, and hope for no issues."

Tomorrow's winner-take-all 20-lap/40-minute Formula Atlantic championship race will be the finale for the day, getting the green flag at approximately 5:10 p.m. It is scheduled to be broadcast on SPEED on Sunday, Nov. 27 at 2 p.m. Eastern time.

Rahal's Web site is located at grahamrahal.com, while his sponsor's Web site is at bobbyrahal.com. Other interesting information can be found at scca.com, andersenwalko.com, starmazda.com and restartcommunications.com.

-lm-