GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETE, QUALIFYING REPORT


RYAN HUNTER-REAY
NO. 28 DHL HONDA

  • Advanced from the first round of qualifying to lock in an eighth-place start fortomorrow’s 110-lap race
  • Recorded a second-place finish on the streets of St. Pete in 2014
  • Will record his 170th career IndyCar start when the green flag drops in St. Pete

“In many ways we rebounded today from yesterday’s practice, but it was a disappointing qualifying run. From the first laps, I didn’t really feel we had the balance and the grip level to contend for the Verizon P1 Pole Award, so we need to go back and find some more grip. We’re just a little shy on overall grip at the moment, and hopefully tomorrow we can put it together for warm up and get this DHL Honda up front. It’s a bit of a frustrating day here because we’ve been in the Firestone Fast Six here in the past. We’ll look to regroup for tomorrow.”


SIMONA DE SILVESTRO
NO. 25 ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT HONDA

  • Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg marks the 26-year-old’s return to IndyCar since the season finale in 2013
  • Swiss racer holds a career best finish of fourth (2011) on the 1.8-mile circuit and will take the 11th grid position tomorrow
  • Will be the only female in the Verizon IndyCar Series field at the season opener

“Yeah 11th is okay for sure. I would have liked to be a little bit more up front, but being back here in IndyCar, it’s definitely been a busy week. We just tested a little bit at the beginning of the week, and just getting to work with everybody here at Andretti Autosport has been great. I think to qualify where we are, it’s okay for the race. Hopefully we can improve tomorrow.”

On the biggest thing she’s noticed since her return to IndyCar:
“Well, definitely the aero kit; it changes the car quite a bit. I think that’s the biggest thing. You have to change a little bit how you’re driving and even kind of understand what the car needs to be fast. I think we’re all learning that, and hopefully we’ll make even more improvements tomorrow.”


MARCO ANDRETTI
NO. 27 SNAPPLE HONDA

  • 2015 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Pete will start the American’s 10th season of competition in the Verizon IndyCar Series
  • Has an IndyCar career best finish of third on the streets of St. Pete (2013), will start tomorrow’s race from 12th
  • Moves to the No. 27 car for the 2015 season; the car number change also comes with a new engineer (Nathan O’Rourke), pit strategist (George Klotz) and pit crew

“We’re not even close. I thought our potential was a little better than that. We’ve been struggling with understeer — can’t get the car to turn — which for outright pace, is not good, but maybe for the race that’s a good situation to try and look after the (Firestone) reds.”


CARLOS MUÑOZ
NO. 26 ANDRETTITV/CINSAY HONDA

  • 23-year-old’s best start on the streets of downtown St. Petersburg is from the pole position (Indy Lights, 2013), he will start 14th tomorrow
  • 2014 Sunoco Rookie of the Year returns for his second full season of Verizon IndyCar Series competition in the No. 26 car, a switch from the No. 34 during 2014
  • The 2015 season marks the Colombian’s fourth year with Andretti Autosport

“It was okay. I’m just a little bit frustrated – I could have gone into the next phase. Everyone’s really close here, so you really have to set up every piece (of the car) together (to get it right). It’s a shame, but tomorrow’s a long race, so we’ll see what happens.”