Indy Grand Prix Of Louisiana, Practice Report

Practice Report, Verizon IndyCar Series, Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana

Weekend festivities began today for the inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana with the Verizon IndyCar Series taking their first official practice laps around the 13-turn, 2.74-mile circuit. While the sun was shining over the morning’s practice session, the afternoon session saw a slight delay as storm clouds rolled through the bayou. All four Andretti drivers ended the second practice session inside the top 12 with Ryan Hunter-Reay in the second position. Series sophomore Carlos Munoz led the way for the team in the day’s overall practice times. The quartet will return to the track for practice and qualifying sessions tomorrow, with live qualifying broadcast on NBC Sports Network at 5 p.m. ET.

CARLOS MUNOZ
NO. 26 ANDRETTITV / CINSAY HONDA

“Our day on track was a bit shortened because of the weather conditions, and the first session had a lot of red flags, so we didn’t get as much green time as we would have liked. For sure we are already more competitive than we were in St. Petersburg. In the second session, when the track was trying up, the people who go the most laps out of it of course were quickest in the end. Anyways, we have to focus on tomorrow. Tomorrow the weather also look really inconsistent – a chance of rain again – so we’ll see what happens.”

RYAN HUNTER-REAY
NO. 28 DHL HONDA

“It was an incomplete day for us with the DHL Honda. In the first session we never really got going in our changes. We were trying some big experiments with some of the aero package that didn’t end up panning out for us, so we ended up going fastest in our first outing – which was unfortunate. But we were able to get a little track time at the end of the day and I think we have a potential direction for tomorrow.”

MARCO ANDRETTI
NO. 27 MERCHANT FIRST / SNAPPLE HONDA

“With the delays, the second session was extended a bit and we ended up running out of fuel when the track was under the best conditions… We just never really got the clean laps we needed to gauge things and get quick times. We were on a good lap when (James) Jakes spun in front of me – I was on a lap for a quick time right there. We’ll pull together and hope for more tomorrow.”
SIMONA DE SILVESTRO
NO. 25 ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT HONDA

“This afternoon’s session was much better, definitely. It was a little short, but I think we improved a lot from the first session. We still have some work to do, but looking forward to getting back in the car tomorrow.”
Pro Mazda Practice Report: Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana

WEIRON TAN
NO. 22 WEIRON TAN
ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT MAZDA

* Malaysian racer held on to the top spot for both practice sessions on the 2.74-mile permanent road course
* Will qualify alongside teammate Kellett tomorrow at 10:40 a.m. CT with live commentary available on the Road to Indy TV app (Apple & Android)
“It was a good day today – we topped every practice. Looking very positive for qualifying and the races. We’ve got good pace, and the Andretti Autosport team did a good job, so we’ll just keep our heads down and keep working on it and move forward. Let’s see what we get for qualifying – hopefully pole position – and the races will come afterward.”

DALTON KELLETT
NO. 28 K-LINE INSULATORS USA, INC.
ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT MAZDA

* Fourth-year Queen’s University engineering student came away fifth quickest over today’s two practice sessions at the Avondale, LA track
* Looking to improve on his top-seven finishes for tomorrow’s Race One which will go green at 5:40 p.m. CT
“Wrapping up the second day here at NOLA Motorsports Park – I think we had some positive results. The car is definitely there (in terms of setup) and we just need to put everything together for qualifying. It’s exciting to get back to racing tomorrow; we definitely saw some good competition here at Winterfest, so I’m really looking forward to qualifying and Race One.”