Graham Rahal began his Champ Car World Series career in Las Vegas this weekend, taking to the street circuit in his No. 2 Medi | Zone Panoz DP01 Champ Car. source: champcarworldseries.com A challenging weekend for the Ohio racer, culminating with a retirement from the race on the first lap after an accident, was a disappointing conclusion to his Series debut. Earlier in the weekend Rahal had shown that he could run on the pace, but with limited running at this track, with his practice sessions interspersed with mechanical issues and a small accident the 18-year-old never had the chance to show his true capabilities. He changed to his back-up car for the final qualifying session and although this car was completely new to Rahal, it was well prepared and ready for him to take the wheel for the all-important grid-setting laps. The youngster drove well in difficult circumstances and was able to improve his starting spot to line up 10th for the race. Rahal's introduction to the real business of Champ Car racing wasn't the smooth, calm and collected start that he wanted to have and it finished before he had a chance to complete a lap. His debut performance was short lived after a clash with rival Dan Clarke put him out of the race before he had even reached the first corner. He said after the incident, "For the start I was trying to pack up behind Justin (Wilson), but Clarke seemed to be flat in sixth, and was either going to hit Neil Jani or move to the middle. He went for the middle, but in the process pushed me into the wall. "It's a disappointing end for my first champ car event, and although we had a few challenges during the weekend I know I have a great car, an excellent crew and the sort of pace that you need to be well up in the points. With these advantages, we'll be able to be racing hard again in Long Beach.'' ''I'm sorry that my guys have got a bit of work to do with the Medi | Zone car and there's only a few days until I'm back behind the wheel, but Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing are the best team and we'll be fine." The Champ Car World Series has a calendar of 16 races, with eight of these outside of the USA. The Series has a run of three back-to-back races at the start, with the field of teams moving on to Long Beach, California for the second event of the Series. With the first practice session on Friday 13 April, Rahal has only five days to wait until he returns to the driving seat of his No. 2 Medi | Zone Champ Car.
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