Latest news with #Rahal
Yahoo
a day ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
How to watch 2025 IMSA Laguna Seca on NBC, Peacock: Streaming info, start times and daily schedules
Bobby Rahal is getting using to his BMW 8 Hybrid V8 cars being at the forefront of IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship races this season. So it's fitting the U.S. auto racing legend will kick things off for the Monterey SportsCar Championship on Sunday, May 11. Advertisement Rahal will be the grand marshal for the fourth round of the IMSA season, giving the command to start engines for two-hour, 40-minute race (3 p.m. ET, NBC and Peacock) around the historic road course on the Montnerey Peninsula. "It's a great honor and privilege to be the grand marshal at obviously what is one of my favorite tracks," said Rahal, who made his Laguna Seca debut in 1976 with a Formula Atlantic race. "There's been a lot of success here, both as a driver and as an owner. It's a real thrill to have part of the racetrack named after you. Going out to Laguna, one of the crown jewels really of American road racing circuits, it was a thrill then, and it's a thrill even today." IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship The straightaway at Laguna Seca leading to its famous Corkscrew turn was renamed more than a decade ago in honor of Rahal, who will be at the track on multiple race weekends in 2025 with his IndyCar and IMSA teams. Advertisement It's been a swift start for the No. 24 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8, which has won the Grand Touring Prototype pole position in three consectuive races with driver Dries Vanthoor to start the 2025 season. After lagging through the first two years of IMSA's revamped premier hybirid prototype category, Rahal's cars have improved in a critical season. But some driver, team and tactical errors have contributed to an absence from vcitory lane as the Porsche Penske Motorsport No. 7 963 has swept the first three races. "Unfortunately, we haven't been able quite put it all together," said Rahal, who hinted the BMW teams have tweaked their pit stops for Laguna Seca. "Come race day, we've had on-track, but lapped traffic at Daytona and Sebring hurt our chances at the end of the race. Looking at Long Beach, we got held up in the pits a little bit and that's all it took, I'm afraid. IMSA Long Beach results, points: Nasr, Tandy stay perfect for Porsche Penske in 2025 season Advertisement The No. 7 963 has won the first three IMSA races this year. "So, we've got to hopefully complete the job this time around. We were pretty quick there last year, so we have a reasonable chance. ... We've learned more about the car this year. The Laguna track, especially since they repaved it (in 2023), that's kind of come into our wheelhouse a bit." There is a sense of urgency for Rahal, whose sports car teams have been racing BMWs in GT and prototype classes since 2008. It's a contract year for RLL with the German manufacturer, and multiple outlets have reported that BMW has been considering options with other teams for 2026. "I don't want to get into the specifics of that, but we're obviously hoping to continue this long relationship that we've had with BMW that's dated back to 2008," Rahal said. "I know you see some of these articles and a lot of guessing and a lot of speculation, but there's three quarters of the season left. For us and BMW Motorsport, it's the same thing. Everybody's just really focused on this coming race and the race after that and after that and after that. Auto Racing: Rolex 24 At Daytona What's next for Felipe Nasr after second Daytona dandy? Le Mans awaits ... and maybe more Advertisement With a win in France, the Porsche Penske Motorsport star could earn history and a career springboard. "We go win some races, and that solves a lot of problems. So that's what we're intending to do." But the competition is very stiff in IMSA's top class, which will feature 11 entries and five manufacturers at Laguna Seca. Acura, Cadillac and Aston Martin will be battling BMW to detrhone the unbeaten Porsche. "It speaks volumes about IMSA the number of manufacturers that are involved in all classes," Rahal said. "It's phenomenal how many of all types are involved in in sports car racing and IMSA today compared to years ago. And the complexity of these cars is, in some respects, they may be more complex than a Formula 1 car. It's just at a different level. Advertisement "I think the GTP category but IMSA as a whole is just in a phenomenal place right now, and we haven't seen anything like this maybe ever." Here are the start times, daily schedules and streaming info for the 2025 IMSA Monterey SportsCar Championship at Laguna Seca: 2025 IMSA Laguna Seca SportsCar Championship WHEN: Sunday, May 11 at 3 p.m. DISTANCE: A two-hour, 40-minute race on the 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course in Monterey, Califiornia. FORECAST: According to Weather Underground, it's expected to be 47 degrees with a 4% chance of rain at the green flag. ENTRY LIST: Click here to see the 36-car field in the GTP, GTD Pro and GTD classes for the 2025 IMSA Monterey SportsCar Championship at Laguna Seca. How to Watch IMSA at Laguna Seca TV/STREAMING: The Monterey SportsCar Championship at Laguna Seca will be televised on NBC and streamed on Peacock from flag to flag beginning at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 11. Advertisement The NBC Sports broadcast will feature announcers Brian Till and Calvin Fish. Dave Burns, Chris Wilner and Matt Yocum are the pit reporters. RADIO: All sessions live on SiriusXM live race coverage begins May 11 at 3 p.m. (SiriusXM channel 206, Web/App 996) IMSA Laguna Seca SportsCar schedule, start times Here's a rundown of the IMSA schedule this week at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca (all times are ET): Friday, May 9 11:25-11:45 a.m.: Mustang Challenge practice 12:10-1:10 p.m.: Michelin Pilot Challenge practice 1:25-2:10 p.m.: Lamborghini Super Trofeo practice 3:10-3:40 p.m.: Mustang Challenge practice 4-5 p.m.: Michelin Pilot Challenge practice 5:20-6:50 p.m.: WeatherTech SportsCar Championship practice 7:10-7:55 p.m.: Lamborghini Super Trofeo practice 8:10-8:25 p.m.: Mustang Challenge qualifying 8:40-9:15 p.m.: Michelin Pilot Challenge qualifying Saturday, May 10 11-11:35 a.m.: Lamborghini Super Trofeo qualifying 11:50 a.m.-12:35 p.m.: Mustang Challenge Race 1 (Peacock) 12:55-2:25 p.m.: WeatherTech SportsCar Championship practice 3:45-5:45 p.m.: Michelinn Pilot Challenge WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca 120 (Peacock) 6:15-7:25 p.m.: WeatherTech SportsCar Championship qualifying (Peacock) 7:45-8:35 p.m.: Lamborghini Super Trofeo Race 1 (Peacock) Advertisement Sunday, May 11 11:25 a.m.-12:15 p.m.: Mustang Challenge Race 2 (Peacock) 12:35-1:25 p.m.: Lamborghini Super Trofeo Race 2 (Peacock) 3:10-5:50 p.m.: Monterey SportsCar Championship (NBC, Peacock) 2025 SEASON RECAPS ROUND 1: Porsche Penske's Felipe Nasr closes Rolex 24 at Daytona win for second conseuctive year ROUND 2: Porsche Penske Motorsport sweeps top two spots at Twelve Hours of Sebring ROUND 3: Nasr, Tandy stay perfect with Porsche in victory at Long Beach
Perth Now
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Is this Perth's best Dubai chocolate?
Dubai chocolate is suddenly popping up all over the Perth with cookie shops and ice cream parlours offering their own takes on the viral foodie trend. Even supermarkets have started offering imported bars for upwards of $15. FEA Milla Munro with Nabils Acai chocolate. Credit: Iain Gillespie / The West Australian The Lebanese sweet shop was one of the first in Perth to offer their own take of the chocolate treat after Mahmoud Rahal, whose family own Nabil's, saw the bar trending on social media and set about creating his own version. 'After lots of trials we worked out the best recipe,' Mr Rahal said. Nabil's have been inundated ever since posting about the bar on their Instagram page and regularly sell out of their chunky $28 bar. Mr Rahal said a subsequent story in The Sunday Times and Perthnow, published in February, is still helping attract queues of people, keen to see what all the fuss is about. 'We had a huge response,' Mr Rahal says. 'It's still going.' While the trip to Ballajura is worth it, I was tempted to try the imported bar at my local IGA. Priced at $15.99, it is much smaller and the pistachio taste is also more pronounced which may suit some tastes but felt a touch too intense for me. I also found it lacked a pinch of salt. If you'd like to view this content, please adjust your . To find out more about how we use cookies, please see our Cookie Guide. Mini chocolate connoisseur Milla, gave the bar a score of seven out of 10. I awarded it a lower, five out of 10. And as for Nabil's huge slab, $28, Milla was effusive in her praise. 'It's so good,' she said. Declaring it a straight out 10 out of 10. FEA Milla Munro with Nabils Acai chocolate. Credit: Iain Gillespie / The West Australian I had to agree. The bar is both sweet and salty, crunchy and delicious. And, to me, there's a hint of nostalgic hiding between the layers of chocolate, knafeh pastry and pistachios. It reminded me of when, as a child, I would smother my cornflakes in sugar, creating a crunchy, sweet, salty dopamine hit. So, the verdict is in. Whenever I feel like Dubai chocloate, I'm going to bypass IGA and head straight to Nabil's Acai Station.
Fox Sports
20-05-2025
- Automotive
- Fox Sports
Nolan Siegel Brings Winning Mindset to '500' from 2024 Lessons
INDYCAR The way Nolan Siegel approached last year's Last Chance Qualifying session for the 108th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge left a lasting impression on veteran driver Graham Rahal, even though Siegel crashed and failed to qualify. Siegel's commitment to pushing the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda to its limits, even at the risk of failure, resonated with Rahal, who expressed admiration for Siegel's fearless attitude and bright future in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. In the final qualifying attempt, Siegel lost control in Turn 1, causing the car to spin and crash into the Turn 2 SAFER Barrier. 'Nolan (Siegel) is a young kid,' Rahal said last year. 'He has a bright future, and I expect to see him back here and doing great things. He may be a new name to a lot of people, but he's a name that you are going to become familiar with. He's won at every level. He's won at everything he's done. He'll be here.' Siegel, 20, returned this year not just as a participant, but as a contender. Now driving the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, he comfortably made the field and will start 24th on the grid, sharing Row 8 with legend Helio Castroneves (No. 06 Cliffs Honda) and Kyle Kirkwood (No. 27 Siemens Honda), winner of the 2025 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Siegel credits last year's struggle with making him a better driver. 'That's helped me this year, for sure,' Siegel said. 'I'm a better driver now than I was then. That experience made a difference.' Last year, Siegel and Dale Coyne Racing knew early that qualifying would be challenging. Despite their best efforts, the car lacked the raw speed needed to compete. The morale drop was steep, and each session was a grind. 'Every outing last year was so much more difficult,' Siegel said. 'It just kind of wears on you after a while.' Siegel believes there's a stark contrast between the two teams, as Arrow McLaren is one of the series' power teams and DCR is one of its smallest. Winning is a focus and an expectation, which has given Siegel a mental boost. 'There's a lot more motivation when everyone around you is here to win,' he said. 'It's just a way different feeling.' After last year's '500,' which Siegel said he watched from a suite at IMS, he returned to his INDY NXT by Firestone season with HMD Motorsports June 2 on the streets of Detroit. A week later, he was called into action to substitute for Agustin Canapino with Juncos Hollinger Racing at Road America. The next week, he was part of the United Autosports entry for the 24 Hours of Le Mans and helped the team, along with drivers Oliver Jarvis and Bijoy Garg, win the LMP2 class. Siegel then signed with Arrow McLaren in late June to drive the final 10 races of the 2024 season and full time in 2025. He enters Sunday's '500' 18th in points but is ascending after a ninth-place finish May 4 at Barber Motorsports Park and finishing 13th in the Sonsio Grand Prix on May 10 that opened Month of May racing activities at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. 'I'm hungry for it after last year,' Siegel said. 'I've been waiting to come back, and I've wanted to be here and not just be here to be in the show. I want to be here to compete and try to win the race. It's a different feeling now, and I want to show people that I can be competitive here.' recommended
Indianapolis Star
18-05-2025
- Automotive
- Indianapolis Star
Is Graham Rahal turning a corner? Breakthrough found at Indy 500 track that's been 'deadly to me'
INDIANAPOLIS — Graham Rahal stood in the shadow of the Pagoda early Saturday afternoon and struggled to find the words — a surprise, maybe, because he'd played the starring role in this movie twice before. It's the one where a veteran racecar driver in the twilight of his career starts the most pressure-packed two weeks of his career with an air of positivity, and 48 hours later, he's swearing profusely in the cockpit on the radio. Less than two more, he's beyond the point of dumbfounded, almost dizzy from the ways in which he and his team have run circles around the gargantuan issue at hand but remain clueless for the solution. Saturday, after completing his first Indianapolis 500 qualifying run — one that would prove to be the second slowest four laps run all day among the 61 completed — Rahal came to what felt as if it might be the climax of this Greek tragedy of his taking place in Speedway the last five years, starting with a near-miss third-place finish in 2020, followed by a backbreaking pitstop failure he'll forever believe robbed him of a win in 2021, a year in utter mediocrity in 2022 and then months of May in 2023 and 2024 where every waking moment ahead of the Last Chance Qualifier felt only increasingly more dire. 'Yeah, I mean, I don't really have a lot to say, you know?' Rahal said midday Saturday, taking a nearly 5-second pause to muster more. 'I don't know. The hard part of all this is, I don't know how much more we have. 'The car doesn't respond to change. Since Tuesday of this week, even in race trim, it just doesn't want to do anything, and unfortunately, that keeps getting worse and worse. I'm not really sure what to say. I'm crazily disappointed, but I can't say there isn't a stone we haven't turned over, other than switching cars, and in my experience, switching cars isn't the answer. (Expletive), it feels like "Groundhog Day" every time I come back to this place. It's certainly getting old. I can tell you that.' Perhaps even more worrisome, Rahal would go on to explain, is that on a day where to the naked, untrained eye, speed appears to be the sole crucial element to seal one's fate, speed was by no means lacking. Speed, though, means very little when slamming one's foot to the floor feels akin to a death wish in a sport where drivers risk their lives every day in pursuit of eternal glory. Because Rahal was lifting in every corner, on every single lap, and sometimes not even able comfortable enough doing that to manage to stay in it for four of them. Whereas the last two years he couldn't wish his No. 15 Honda machine fast enough around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Rahal finally had a bullet in the chamber to use, but a stuck trigger that seemed to make it utterly worthless. It would appear at the time — so much so, that Rahal himself outright publicly predicted it — that Rahal again would find himself starring in an Indy 500 Last Chance Qualifying late Sunday afternoon, his fate perhaps held in a gust of wind here or a brief moment or two of cloud cover there with reputational destruction on the line. 'I anticipate we'll be in the bottom three, no matter what, and I anticipate us running tomorrow, no matter what,' he said. 'The confusion's almost higher (than the last two years) because of the fact you know you have a car fast enough to be in the field, but how do you make it do it when all your teammates are generally happy or have a larger operating window to work form? There is perhaps no moment more when Rahal's been more enthused to have been proven wrong. Because boy, was 2025 pitched to be a monumental, foundational turnaround season for a program that just watched a driver many believed to be an almost irreplaceable cog in its near-term success eagerly walk to what he believed to be greener pastures, and then rattle off three consecutive podium finishes for good measure. Last offseason was one where Rahal, his father, team co-owner Bobby Rahal and Co. did what's ultimately the toughest thing to do for any business owner: Admit the way you attempted to correct an old failure was wrong in and of itself. The younger Rahal will put it plainly. 'I wasn't a huge fan of the past regime,' he told IndyStar in February, a reference to the team's ex-technical director Stefano Sordo who was hired by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in the fall of 2022 after a year in which the team's veteran driver dipped from seven top-5s to two and seventh in points to 11th. More importantly, the team went from winning and finishing third in the Indy 500 in 2020 and leaving IMS in 2021 believing devoutly that Rahal had the best combination of strategy and speed on the grid to being a team of nobodies in 2022 And so they took a flyer on one of Europe's best engineering minds, who Rahal said would go onto micromanage projects, largely refuse to delegate and generally take the team down improper paths of development purely unfit for the world of IndyCar. 'We'd do a lot of development, and then it never would get implemented properly,' Rahal said. 'Some of that came down to staffing, but the other part was leadership not delegating correctly.' That first May with Sordo's guidance led to the team's darkest day in recent memory, as three of that year's four LCQ spots were filled by RLL full-time entries. Eventually Jack Harvey was forced to bump Rahal out in miraculous fashion, leaving his veteran teammate an emotional mess sitting on his side pods wondering how something could have gone so drastically wrong. Sordo would only last only one more May, with his departure made public last spring even before cars kicked into high gear for the Month of May. His departure welcomed in a run of new research and development projects and a team-wide leadership restructuring that team leaders hope would add talent in the holes in which RLL needed it most, while simultaneously promoting those on the inside who were ready and prepared to. Though RLL made a tidal wave of changes in the month following Rahal missing the '23 500, this time, the two Rahals said, felt different. Somehow, though, the Rahals found themselves answering questions during the team's annual Fast Friday news conference about uncertainty and a lack of performance and the same eerie signs that always have seemed to have worked their way into the RLL storylines come Thursday and Friday of practice week before wreaking their havoc during the weekend. 'I think it's been a challenging, but positive week for everybody,' Rahal said Friday. 'I felt like the guys did a wonderful job finding some speed in the offseason, and I remain positive about that. 'We'll go out there and do the absolute best that we can. There's lots of reasons to be positive throughout the team, and we're looking forward to the challenges ahead.' Tuesday, before he'd turned a wheel this month on the IMS oval, the youngest Rahal was celebrating the ways in which he believed Honda had made gains against Chevy entering this year's Indy 500, following a year in which his team's minor deficiencies were magnified by an undermatched Honda internal combustion engine. From 2023 to 2024, Rahal loves to say, he believed RLL had closed the gap to Chip Ganassi Racing by leaps and bounds. And so even if Rahal was nearly bumped for a second consecutive 500 last year, he believed the role in which his team played in the matter had a smaller impact that what the ultimate results may show on paper. 'To me, if it doesn't work, I don't know where the hell you go from here, because I see it. I see all the stones have been turned over, and I don't possibly know what else you could look at,' Rahal said. 'So at least it's nice to feel that heartbeat at the test. I feel like we've got a chance. We've got some pace. 'I'm gonna be really shocked if we're not in a better spot. I don't like to get too ahead of myself in that regard, but I really think it looked a lot more positive than before.' And so shocked Rahal would be four days later, so utterly fed up with the questions around he and his car's clear lack of performance that he was mentally preparing himself to be in a Sunday afternoon spat for a spot in the Indy 500 yet again. Except when it was his turn again a few hours later to make what felt on the outside to be a rather feeble attempt to change his fortunes, Rahal was suddenly in the mix. By no means was his four-lap run anything more than average at best on a day in which excellence is rewarded, but it was in the show. And miraculously, it stayed there through the sounding of the pistol shot. He speculated after the fact that the noticeable drop in speed between the open test and Friday may have been triggered in part by the swapping out of an underwing on Rahal's car after he wall banged the IMS outer SAFER barriers during last month's open test. 'After that second run, I felt a million times better. That's a lot more like it should be, and so if we can just take that balance and refine it a little bit, then we'll be even faster,' Rahal said. 'This place has been absolutely deadly to me the last 4-5 years, as far as my emotions, and the past week, I've been exhausted at the end of each day more than ever before, and that's what it does to you. It takes it out of you. 'Now, I can enjoy tonight with my family. They came last night. I hadn't seem them in a month because I've been on the road, and they've been at home. But it's great to see them and enjoy tonight a little and get some sleep, because I didn't sleep worth a damn last night, and that's all I really wanted. I just wanted to be able to sleep well tonight. I know that sounds stupid, but that's all I was hoping for.'
Fox Sports
17-05-2025
- Automotive
- Fox Sports
Palou and Penske set pace in 1st stage of Indy 500 qualifying. Andretti in danger of missing race
Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Three familiar faces were at the top of the Indianapolis 500 qualifying board after the first round of time trials, with two-time defending IndyCar series champion Alex Palou holding the provisional pole. Palou, winner of four of the first five races this season, qualified at 233.043 mph in a Honda-powered entry Saturday to top the Team Penske drivers of Scott McLaughlin and two-time defending Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden. 'It was an amazing day for us,' Palou said. 'In practice we were not able to finish a full qualifying run. It was tough conditions. But we had a ton of speed in the car.' McLaughlin went 233.013 and Newgarden was third at 233.004 in Chevrolets. A year ago, all three Penske cars swept the front row at the Indianapolis 500 and Newgarden used a last-lap pass to put himself in position to become the first driver to win 'The Greatest Spectacle in Racing' three consecutive years in next Sunday's race. That trio took the rest of the day off after their initial qualifying runs. It was a far more stressful session for some other top stars, including Marco Andretti, who failed to lock himself into the field of 33 on the first day of qualifying. Andretti will now have to prepare for a Sunday shootout against Marcus Armstrong, who crashed in morning practice but got a backup on track as the minutes ticked down on Saturday's session, Rinus VeeKay and rookie Jacob Abel. One of the four will not make the field for 'The Greatest Spectacle in Racing' on May 25. 'We just need to do four solid ones (laps Sunday) and we should be OK,' Andretti said. 'But just even running tomorrow is a bummer. We have speed problems. I've seen it across the garage with big teams. It's just how it is. I drew that straw this year." The famed Andretti family has only won the Indianapolis 500 once — a 1969 win by Mario Andretti — and the struggles his sons, nephew and grandson have gone through at the speedway are referred to as 'The Andretti Curse.' Armstrong said in addition to the car preparation Meyer Shank Racing had to do, the New Zealand native also had to go through IndyCar's concussion protocol to even be cleared to race. Their struggles ultimately benefited Graham Rahal, who was bumped from the field in 2023, but battled all day to finally grab the 30th and final guaranteed spot in Saturday's session. He had to sit inside his car and wait as Andretti and VeeKay made desperate final runs that could have knocked Rahal out of the field. Instead, they fell short and Rahal breathed a huge sigh of relief. 'Two of the guys that ran there at the end, Marco and VeeKay, are two of the guys I respect the most around here. Both guys have been extremely fast, extremely talented at this place, and so you just never know,' Rahal said. 'I think we improved our car. This day did not start out well. But we found a lot and I man, that beer is going to taste good tonight.' The Saturday qualifying session decided the fast 12 that will run again Sunday to set the first four rows and crown the pole-winner. Drivers that qualified in spots 13 through 30 locked in their positions, but the slowest four cars go into a last-chance shootout Sunday to determine the final three spots. One driver will not make the field. The 12 drivers who will try for the pole Sunday are Palou, McLaughlin, Newgarden, Pato O'Ward, Scott Dixon, rookie Robert Shwartzman, David Malukas, Felix Rosenqvist, Takuma Sato, Will Power, Marcus Ericsson and Christian Lundgaard. The fast 12 fight for the pole comprises of seven former Indy 500 winners and a split of seven Chevrolet drivers and five Hondas. Track conditions were the worst of the week with heavy wind gusts that affected handling on the cars and played into two frightening crashes: Armstrong's morning wreck and an even more horrific crash for Colton Herta, who crashed in nearly the same spot as Armstrong in a much during his qualifying attempt. Herta's car actually flipped on its side and he was stuck riding the wall, cockpit side facing the concrete. His team desperately tried to reach him on the radio to check on him but the car was so mangled, Herta could not reach the button to answer Andretti Global. He got back onto the track in a totally rebuilt car. 'The only thing that transferred over was the engine, everything else was destroyed,' said Herta, who qualified 29th. 'This place doesn't scare me. I don't have a problem hitting the wall here and having big ones like today. It doesn't feel good, it sucks, but it doesn't scare me when I get back in the car.' Kyle Larson, who is attempting to run both the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day, locked into the Indy field but will start 21st at Indy. He planned to stay overnight in Indianapolis and travel to North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina on Sunday for NASCAR's All-Star race. ___ AP auto racing: recommended
