Story By: JUDY KOUBA DOMINICK / CHEVROLET – ELKHART LAKE, WI
CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
XPEL GRAND PRIX AT ROAD AMERICA
ROAD AMERICA
ELKHART LAKE, WISCONSIN
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING RECAP
JUNE 8, 2024
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING RECAP
· Team Chevy drivers Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, and Josef Newgarden, No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet qualified for the Firestone Fast Six run for the NTT P1 Award for the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America
· A total of five Chevrolet powered drivers progressed to the Fast 12. In addition to Newgarden and Power were Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet, Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, and Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet
· The heavy rain ended after the second round of qualifying started, but the wet track conditions persisted, only starting to dry with minutes remaining in Q3 making for treacherous conditions
· Power lost the back of the car in Canada Corner on his first flyer lap in the Firestone Fast Six. Because of the subsequent red flag, he was relegated to the fifth starting position
· On his last lap, shortly after the Q3 clock had expired, Newgarden dropped a wheel off the track coming out of the Carousel, lost control and crashed hard. He was seen and released by INDYCAR Medical Unit. The team is going to a backup car, and his Chevrolet engine will be replaced as a precaution without loss of his 6th starting position
· Race day starts with a warm-up at 12:15 p.m. ET, and the race takes the green flag at 3:30 p.m. with practice on Peacock and the race on NBC, INDYCAR Radio, and SiriusXM Channel 218
TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 QUALIFYING RESULTS:
5th Will Power
6th Josef Newgarden
8th Scott McLaughlin
9th Alexander Rossi
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet:
“We’re not where we wanted to qualify. I think we have a better car than that. Just hindsight’s twenty-twenty and we just made ourselves a lot of work for Sunday.”
Sting Ray Robb, No. 41 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet:
“Tough qualifying session again. The rain was interesting, I thought that we would have had a little bit more similarities to what we had in practice, but it felt like a different car so really surprised and disappointed with the results. I think that to be a long day tomorrow to race forward. But I’m hopeful that we can get a good strategy call; it’s been chaos the last few races in IndyCar so maybe at this point in the chaos will help us out.”
Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:
“It was a slippery day today, both in practice and qualifying. I thought we had a little bit more pace to find, maybe even enough for the Firestone Fast 6. We just got stuck there a little bit in Round 2 and couldn’t really get what we needed from the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. We’ll have to work hard and see what we can do tomorrow to make our way forward.”
Théo Pourchaire, No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:
“I’m disappointed because I feel like I had the pace today to possibly make my first Firestone Fast 6. We had a few issues, and that’s tough because the No. 6 onsemi Arrow McLaren Chevrolet was great in those conditions. It will be difficult to start so far back on this track, but we have the race tomorrow to move forward. I’m still learning, but I think I drove pretty well. We just need to communicate better and we will get the results we’re looking for.”
Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:
“It was a slippery day today, both in practice and qualifying. I thought we had a little bit more pace to find, maybe even enough for the Firestone Fast 6. We just got stuck there a little bit in Round 2 and couldn’t really get what we needed from the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. We’ll have to work hard and see what we can do tomorrow to make our way forward.”
Christian Rasumussen, No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet:
“The time was in it! We were sitting pretty good, you have to push hard on a lap like that. You get new tires and you have to push the limits because it just gets more and more dry. I thought there was a little more in Turn 8 and that’s where I went wide. I lost somewhere around 1.2 seconds in that sector, so that’s very frustrating. We would have transferred without my mistake and that’s on me.”
Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet:
“We definitely have much more speed in the Direct Supply car than where our qualifying position shows. The guys who took a second set of wet tires were able to go faster than us there at the end. It is disappointing to be starting so far back but I love this track and I love passing people so we’ll try to have some fun tomorrow.”
Romain Grosjean, No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet:
“I think we messed it up. We had low pressure and the grip was coming, and then I caught Sting Ray Robb, and he was not very fast, so I backed off. I wanted to go for one more lap, and the boys were like “coming,” and then we had the red flag. I knew one lap, we just didn’t have it. The car was pretty good. It was just took time to generate the grip, and we didn’t have it. I really think that red flag hurt us a lot, and it’s not a bad place to start. 14th is a place we can overtake. Of course, we’re on the back foot on the dry, so no warm up will be great. I’m a bit disappointed because I thought we had a better car. I mean, (warm up) is always important for tire wear and tire degradation, but tomorrow for us, it’s also balance work. I trust the boys have done a good job in getting it set up right. I’m just a bit sad today because I really think we had a shot at doing better.”
Nolan Siegel, No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet:
“There’s so much to learn. In practice, we actually didn’t end up getting a timed lap with all the red flags, so this is the first time I went through turn one in the wet. It’s tough. I think it was alright. A lot of people pitted for a second set and we stayed out just because of the way the session was going for us. I had to make a gap that we should’ve pushed through and then pitted. A little bit unlucky, but overall I think we’re in a good spot and I’m learning a lot. Everyone’s getting along here. Just so much to learn from the people, to the car, to the conditions. I think the race is going to be dry. We’ll put this behind us. Ultimately, it’s not that bad of starting spot. We’re ahead of a couple of people at least so we’ll see how it goes tomorrow.”
Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet:
“I’m good. Glad I got to see the replay. What happened is what I thought would happen. I feel like an idiot. I just got a little bit wide. You can’t do that is this condition. Look, this is INDYCAR. It gets tight. I pushed it a little too hard there. I apologize to my guys. Man that was a rocketship car. Man it was good. I don’t know if the lap was good enough, but it was going to be in the rhelm of something decent. So I was definitely trying to go for it like everybody and just overstepped.
“It was slick, but I think if you don’t drop a wheel like I did, you were okay. If you look at the lap times, they were getting very close to dry conditions. It was a mistake from my side which caused that which is unfortunate. The car was really good and we were going for it. We were in the Firestone Fast Six and we could have gotten this PPG baby on pole with Team Chevy, so disappointed to make a mistake for the team. But I think the encouraging bit is we should have a fast car for tomorrow, but I feel terrible for my guys, they are unfortunately going to have a long night.”
Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet:
“That’s not bad for a shot, I guess. Always, you want more. Got to learn these tires a little bit. Probably went a little bit too hard on my warm up lap and turned them out a little bit. I really didn’t have much. I’ve got a bit to learn, but there’s a first for everything. Qualified eighth. We’re 10 spots higher than where we were when we qualified in the dry, so that’s fine. You’re also trying to judge traffic, and get out of the way of people and also find a nice gap. Ultimately, it’s technical but you’ve just got to trust your guess. I did that time. The Xpel Chevy has been good all week. I think our dry car is really strong. We’re in a good spot. We can do business from there.”
Will Power, No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet:
“It feels really good to get through all of the rounds. Very tough conditions and easy to make a mistake and I did. I feel really bad for Josef. That was like an oval hit crashing in that corner. Very easily done in these conditions. So I hope he is okay. P6 A bit of a mixed up grid in the front. GoABOUT CHEVROLET
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ing to be an interesting race tomorrow.”