Information By: ASHLEY KELLER / CHEVROLET – INDIANAPOLIS, IN
- Pato O’Ward, driver of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, and Scott McLaughlin, driver of the No. 3 Pennzoil Team Penske Chevrolet, led Team Chevy in first and second respectively on the third day of practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the 108th Running of the Indianapolis 500.
- O’Ward’s fastest lap of 228.861 mph set speed over the NTT INDYCAR SERIES field, with McLaughlin trailing slightly with 227.316 mph.
- Chevrolet finished with five in the top-ten representing the Bowtie brand at the conclusion of Thursday’s practice session.
- A total of 1,896 laps were completed during Thursday’s on-track activity, with Chevrolet completing 878 laps.
- Friday’s practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is scheduled from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. tomorrow.
- Fast Friday will see the boost turned up, where drivers and teams get a bump to 1.5 bar from 1.3 bar, adding approximately 100 horsepower ahead of Saturday’s practice and the first day of Indianapolis 500 qualifying.
TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 PRACTICE RESULT:
Pos. Driver
1st Pato O’Ward (228.861 mph)
2nd Scott McLaughlin (227.316 mph)
5th Josef Newgarden (226.684 mph)
8th Ed Carpenter (226.115 mph)
9th Will Power (225.675 mph)
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (Quotes);
Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:
“That was a good day for us. The No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet team just keeps working hard to get the car in the window. We did some qualifying runs today, and while I wish we had more time for those, the rain had other plans. There are no big issues, though, so I’m happy. Tomorrow is Fast Friday; time to go fast.”
Callum Ilott, No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:
“That was a really good day for the team. The No. 6 NTT DATA Arrow McLaren Chevrolet team made some big improvements overnight and did a good job sorting everything out. We started the day with race runs, and the car continues to feel better and more comfortable. The afternoon was cut short a bit by weather, but I got a good feeling for our qualifying setup, as well. I think we’re in a good place going into tomorrow when everything gets turned up a bit. The team is working well together right now, and tomorrow we’ll see where we really stand.”
Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:
“We had another very good day today, and I’m leaving the day feeling pretty strong in traffic. The No. 7 VELO Arrow McLaren Chevrolet is in a good window. I’m looking forward to turning up the boost tomorrow for Fast Friday and focusing on qualifying.”
Kyle Larson, No. 17 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:
“The day didn’t go as we hoped. When we wanted to do runs in a pack, there were no packs on the track. When we wanted to do single-car runs, cars would pull out in front of me. It was frustrating.”
Brian Campe, Technical Director at Hendrick Motorsports and Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 17 Arrow McLaren’s Indianapolis 500 Race Strategist:
“We haven’t got as much running as we’d like to today, which happens around here with rain and things like that. We’re prepared. Kyle (Larson) is just working through all of the procedures for qualifying. We’ve got a lot of those boxes ticked there. Kind of got bit by some traffic, and then by the rain, so we haven’t got a full qualifying sim in but we’re trying to check as many boxes as we can.”
You’ve worked with many great ones at the speedway. You’re talking about some of the most well-rounded drivers of the last ten years or so – Juan Pablo Montoya, Kyle Larson’s name comes to mind. Do you see similarities in the two?
“Sure. I think you could easily draw the similarities. I think while you’re in it, you don’t realize it but in maybe a couple of weeks, we’ll talk about it in, and it’ll be come more clear. We’re focused on making the best qualifying effort with the weather. Not sure what’s going to happen the next two days. We’re just really focused on that.”
When you were here with Juan (Pablo Montoya), including winning in 2015, you had the benefit of experience. He was a former winner. How different is the process with a true INDYCAR Rookie in Kyle Larson?
“The driving part is well taken care of; the skill part is checked. It’s just the procedure differences – leaving pit lane, all the buttons to push and all those things, things to remember, and the fact he can actually adjust the car, which is just laps – he’ll get that figured out.”
He adjusts his sprint car and midget a lot, but I don’t think he bothers…
“I think that speaks to his skill and focus on his driving. We’ll certainly help him out here. We have the telemetry and we’ve been adjusting ourselves too, and just telling him what we think he needs to do and then he responds. So, it’s going well.”
When you left Team Penske to join Hendrick Motorsports, did you think you would be back for the Indianapolis 500?
“No. I never thought this would be a possibility, so I really appreciate the opportunity, Mr. Hendrick, Jeff Andrews, Gavin (Ward), Zak (Brown), and everyone at Arrow McLaren to put that trust in me to come back over here after being away for a while. I’m really enjoying it.”
How much translation do you have to do with Kyle (Larson) from INDYCAR jargon into NASCAR dialect?
“There is a little bit, but it’s a racecar, right? He speaks racecar pretty well, and everyone here understands. It’s just a racecar, right? Sure, they look different, but when you get down to the stuff that matters, it’s all the same.”
You didn’t get the start today you may have wanted with the engine change and put you behind timing-wise. Where do you stand with qualifying looming?
“I think we’re probably a run or two behind from where we want to be. You know, it happens. We had the unfortunate of changing an engine, but the reliability and power are most important. Chevrolet, we didn’t want to ruin a day by having an engine change in the middle of the session, so it the best thing for us to do and it’s just part of the month of May. Things come you don’t expect, and you just adjust.”
Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 23 Dreyer & Reinbold Chevrolet:
“Weather was another issue (today), a little bit of a stop and start, but we got through some things we needed to. Found a comfort level that I needed in the race trim. We came back out for qual sims, but of course it rained. Looking forward to going fast and left tomorrow a whole lot tomorrow with the added boost. Added horsepower, higher speeds, good times.”
Conor Daly, No. 24 Dreyer & Reinbold Chevrolet:
“There’s a few bits and bobs and I think they know definitely know what it is (referring to issues on his run that ended his day). That’s good. We can fix it. It could have been way worse, so pretty thankful for that not being way worse. Honestly, that run alone makes me feel a lot better because that was our first time actually going into qual trim and the car was super easy to drive. It was pretty decent in qual trim. We didn’t even have to change gears or anything in the course of the qual run. Just to have that speed in it that we had, I think we’re not upset about it, and overall in the race running, we’re okay. We want to win this race, so we need to fight with the Palous and the McLaughlins, and those guys look really good. I haven’t seen Colton (Herta) out there yet, but he looks good as well. We just need a couple more pieces, but obviously now we’re in qual mode. We’ll see what happens. We’re going to gain, we just need a few more things.”
Ed Carpenter, No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet:
“It was an awkward day and not totally how we planned it. We had an issue earlier in the day that cost us some track time which is frustrating. We were able to sort everything out, but I wasn’t able to get as many laps as I wanted to. My teammates were able to do more work on qualifying simulations so we will look at what they were able to do. We will be in a good place heading into tomorrow.”
Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet:
“We started the day with qualifying simulations, and it felt good. We checked off our list today and are continuing to work through everything we need to ahead of this weekend. We tried to get some race running in at the end, but the weather didn’t cooperate long enough to do that. Ready for Fast Friday!”
Christian Rasmussen, No. 33 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet:
“We didn’t get too much running in, but we were able to focus on our qualifying simulations. I am learning and practicing everything that I need to do during a qualifying attempt, and I am feeling good. Each lap it gets easier and easier to keep my foot flat. Everyone wished for a bit of traffic running towards the end, but the weather in Indy this time of year is unpredictable. We will take what we worked on today into the rest of the week before we go all in on Saturday.”
Agustin Canapino, No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet:
“We finished the second day of (Indianapolis) 500 practice. We had good progress. We finished 26th today, which is better than the last day. We are going to try to do another step tomorrow and try to do a good qualifying (run) on the weekend.”
PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN CHEVROLET – Thursday Practice End of Day Press Conference Transcript:
THE MODERATOR: Wrapping up this Thursday practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway ahead of the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge looking ahead to Fast Friday tomorrow,
But P1 today overall, Pato O’Ward in his 56 laps turned, top speed of 228.861 miles an hour, at least a top average speed around this two-and-a-half-mile oval. Driver of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet set to qualify for his fifth Indianapolis 500, best finish was second a couple of years ago.
Did you get all the boxes checked and that sort of thing today?
PATO O’WARD: Yeah, we did. We got a pretty fat tow lap on the board, which was unexpected, I would say. But yeah, I’m happy with my car.
We did race runs. We did qualifying runs. Obviously it doesn’t necessarily translate perfectly to when the boosts come up just because the speed is so different.
But I mean, tomorrow if it does rain out, at least we got a bit of a feeling of what the car is tending to want to do on a bit more trim level.
Q. Looks like maybe rain ends towards the morning, maybe some afternoon running, so it could be crucial with another 100 horsepower tomorrow?
PATO O’WARD: Oh, yeah, you feel it. It’s so cool. Honestly, it’s one of the coolest parts about the whole process is just those four laps in qualifying. They can be very enjoyable, but they can be miserable, as well. Like you’ve got to get it right, and puts a lot of emphasis on — you’ll really see a lot of the work that these teams go through in the off-season making those things go as fast as possible.
Q. When you get that extra boost, does the track visually look different because things are coming at you a little bit faster?
PATO O’WARD: Yeah, I mean, everything just gets — you feel the difference. I think the biggest thing is there’s so much more speed that you’re carrying through the corner. Front right takes a bit more of a beating, and whenever it does decide not to give you that peak grip from lap 1 to lap 4, that wall comes fast, really, really fast.
Q. Alex said last week that you also can hear the speed because the wind sounds a little bit different going —
PATO O’WARD: You can hear the engine. You can hear the different pitch of the engine that it’s producing. It’s freaking badass.
Q. Is that a pitch you’d like to have all the time here?
PATO O’WARD: Oh, my God, those boosts for racing would be gnarly. Too gnarly I’d say. I wouldn’t say no. Why not?
Q. You should have seen the engines in the ’90s, early ’90s. With the lack of running on Tuesday, like 20-something minutes, and then a couple hours yesterday, what’s the level of frustration that you have knowing that this forecast is just stopping all this extra running that you could have done and checked even more boxes off instead of just doing almost everything today?
PATO O’WARD: Zero, I’d say. I don’t mind it. If it rains, it rains. If it doesn’t rain, it doesn’t rain. I’m enjoying the process either way. It’s really cool to be a part of it, and I feel like every year it goes on, you really get to kind of see what it is to Indianapolis and what it is to the INDYCAR community.
No, I mean, if it rains, I’ll just go to my bus. I had a lot of hours at the bus yesterday.
But when we’ve actually had some time on the track, it’s been pretty intense. Like I didn’t get out all afternoon basically until it started raining again, and we got quite a few running laps.
Then today, it was a beautiful day. Right now it got a little cloudy. We almost got through our whole list of testing.
Q. With the cars being a little bit lighter, how much different does the car handle, especially in traffic?
PATO O’WARD: I feel like that’s very weather dependent. To be honest, at least from my side, I haven’t really been able to tell the difference of balance shift with this new lighter aeroscreen on the superspeedway. I felt it on the road course and street course car balance, but I haven’t really felt it on the superspeedway. It’s not like last year we were slower. We weren’t. I think the speeds are pretty much what — you’ll probably see the same thing as you saw last year. It would be cool to go a little bit faster. It always makes it better for the spectacle.
Yeah, not really, not much change I’d say.
Q. I’m trying to be an optimist, but if tomorrow there is no running, presumably they would give you some time with the boost before qualifying. How much practice would you need say —
PATO O’WARD: Oh, yeah. We’re going to need to get a few runs in with the boost. You’ll see guys today getting super consistent four-lap runs, but as soon as those boosts come up, some fourth laps for people are going to be like — I mean, you feel it. It’s just so much faster.
The car just goes to a different dimension with the boost. It’s really almost incomparable to what it is now. Right now you try and pepper it in as good as you can, but you’re going way faster. It’s a lot more downforce, but you’re also trimming more. It’s a very different — yeah, very different car at that point.
Q. They need to give you at least a couple hours —
PATO O’WARD: Yeah. I think everybody would like to get at least two outings I would say. Problem around here is that there’s 34 cars, and if there’s another car on track, you’re getting towed, no matter how far back you are. You try and have maybe two, maybe three cars on track at the same time, nicely spaced out, but sometimes you just can’t time it, or people obviously will put their program in front of yours.
But as long as we can get a read of what it’s like.
Q. I understand where you are. You’re obviously in a good place. You’ve got a good car. But your teammate Kyle Larson had an engine change. I don’t know how many laps he ended up with, but he only had like 11 through mid-afternoon before he got out there and did some qual sims. Do you feel empathy for those guys who haven’t had much experience who haven’t gotten a lot of time over the last three days and do you feel like you have an edge over them?
PATO O’WARD: I didn’t know they were going to do an engine change, and then I asked around and it seemed like it was a mileage thing, like it was going to happen. But obviously it’s not ideal for them to not get the same amount of laps, considering he’s new to INDYCAR. He’s new to the Indy 500. He’s new to basically everything that has to do with the Indy 500 and with the car and everything.
For them, I do hope that it doesn’t rain much more because I’m sure they’ll enjoy to get some laps in.
But Kyle looks comfortable. I think he’s fine. Like I said, today guys can be looking so comfortable, but as soon as the boosts come up, it might completely change direction, or it might be, oh, I feel as good or even better. Really got to see tomorrow.
Q. Obviously you got a little bit of full-field action the past few days, but today just consistently with a more packed track, was that something that you were looking forward to just to be on the track with a lot of the other drivers, as well?
PATO O’WARD: Yeah, I was. It’s always fun to go out there and start playing around with everybody and just seeing kind of what cars are fast, what cars are not as strong as you or stronger than you. Just every lap around here, you learn.
Q. You said that you were pleased with your car and it felt good. What about it felt good, and why do you feel like you were able to go so fast today?
PATO O’WARD: Just when it’s not trying to kill you, it’s a lot more enjoyable.
Q. Pato, to piggyback, if Friday and Saturday are washed out, how crazy is Sunday going to be?
PATO O’WARD: What happens if that happens? Do we just push everything back two days? Like Saturday would be Sunday —
Q. Full field qualifying on Sunday. We’ll see. Depends on television, too.
ALEX PALOU: It’s TV, so we would —
PATO O’WARD: Would they shorten up the 34 qualifying to get Fast 12 and —
Q. I’m sure we’d try to get it all in on Sunday.
PATO O’WARD: Yeah, I don’t know. Yeah, it’s beyond my knowledge, I guess.
Q. Pato, you mentioned earlier about everybody needs to have a shot at the extra boost if it does rain tomorrow, but is the scheduled amount of practice Saturday morning enough?
PATO O’WARD: For everybody to get a shot? Probably not. But we’ll just see. It’s Indianapolis, man. It could say it was raining and then it’s like, oh, cleared out, and we’ll get two, three, four hours of running. It is what it is.
Q. We’ve all been at this track for a lot of years. You are relatively new but you’ve been here long enough to know that it’s really rare when you get full days in consecutively. How difficult is that from a team standpoint, a preparation standpoint? I guess a lot of people say the downtime or the boredom is probably the hardest part to deal with for you guys.
PATO O’WARD: Honestly, sometimes I think it’s not a bad thing to have the rain because sometimes there is so much time to be doing so many changes, it’s so easy to get out of rhythm. Yeah, it is what it is.