Race Report, Verizon IndyCar Series, Indianapolis 500

 

 

 

 


MARCO ANDRETTI
NO. 27 SNAPPLE HONDA

Third-generation racer started from the eighth position for today’s 99th Running of the Indianapolis 500 and led the way for Honda with a sixth-place finish. Andretti moves to sixth in the Verizon IndyCar Series championship points standings.

“It was a frustrating 500 miles, we lost some track position in the pits and I lost some more out on the track. It was just a hard fight to keep the car balanced, let alone try to win. I was just trying to be best in class, but there were so many times that I just got the short end of the stick. This stuff is hard to plan, but it’s been frustrating so hopefully we can turn things around heading into the next race weekend.”

RYAN HUNTER-REAY
NO. 28 DHL HONDA

Seeking his second career Indy 500 win, the American rolled off in the 26th position. Driving a clean race, Hunter-Reay brought the DHL Honda safely home in 15th.

“Not a good day. It was bad from the start, we definitely have an issue with the car. It’s got some balance issues at the moment, compared to the rest of my Andretti Autosport teammates, even with the aero settings. We had to change some things around today to try and get the car to work. I’m just happy to bring the DHL Honda back in one piece.”

SIMONA DE SILVESTRO
NO. 29 TE CONNECTIVITY HONDA

As a result of on-track contact with a competitor, de Silvestro was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop in the opening laps of the race. The Swiss driver recorded a 19th-place finish for the TE Connectivity Honda.

“It was kind of a so-so day. I made a bit of a mistake at the restart where I ran into (Juan Pablo) Montoya; it didn’t hurt him as much as it did us, I guess (haha). It was a long day… The car felt pretty good, we just couldn’t get by people – that was the trickiest part – we really struggled on passing people. It felt great to be back at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – the fans were awesome. I wish we had a better result, I’m pretty disappointed but on to the next one. Huge thank you to everyone at TE Connectivity for giving me the opportunity, and the Andretti Autosport guys did an amazing job the whole month, so I’m looking forward to hopefully working with everyone here at Andretti again.

CARLOS MUÑOZ
NO. 26 ANDRETTITV / CINSAY HONDA

Credited for leading three laps in today’s 500-mile race, Muñoz was on target for a top-10 finish but came up just two laps short on fuel, resulting in an additional pit stop for a splash-and-go and 20th-place finish. 

“I made a mistake and received a drive-thru penalty; I didn’t hit the pit lane limiter or something… I don’t really know what happened there. Since we were at the back (of the field), we just tried to change our strategy a little bit, to not stop again, but we ended up two laps short. I think we were pretty fast, even in the end when I had our fuel saving map on and with more laps on our tires than anyone else. I think we had a good race; it’s a shame I made a mistake, but it is what it is, and hopefully next year I will have another shot to do it again.”

JUSTIN WILSON
NO. 25 ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT HONDA

Starting the race in sixth place with the No. 25 Rolling Stones livery, Wilson struggled with handling issues causing a gamble in strategy. Like teammate Muñoz, Wilson was just shy of the race distance on fuel resulting in a pit stop in the closing laps of the race; he finished 21st. 

“Tough day for the No. 25, we had a vibration in one of our rear tires so we were forced to pit early because we were losing a lot of lap time. So we had to pit a few laps early and that’s when the yellow flag came out and that was it, we went a lap down and just tried to fight our way back to the front. We tried something with fuel milage and strategy to get back into the front of the pack, but we were a lap short. Unfortunately since we were a lap short, we had to pit two laps till the end and not risk anything. It’s frustrating, but it’s just been a long tough day. I want to thank Andretti Autosport for this opportunity, looking forward to hopefully working with them again.”