Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Practice & Qualifying Report

Practice Report, Verizon IndyCar Series, Honda Indy 200

Practice on the 2.258-mile permanent road course in Lexington, OH began for the Andretti Four today, also being joined by the team’s Pro Mazda and Indy Lights squads – the final race weekend the three series will be together in the 2015 season. With two sessions and over 200 laps recorded, the Verizon IndyCar Series drivers came away in P8 – Marco Andretti, P10 – Ryan Hunter-Reay, P16 – Carlos Munoz and P21 – Justin Wilson.

TV coverage of the Honda Indy 200 qualifying session can be found on NBC Sports Network at 3:00 p.m. ET Saturday with the race airing LIVE on CNBC at 1:30 p.m. ET on Sunday. For radio coverage, Verizon IndyCar Series qualifying and races are broadcast live on network affiliates, Sirius 212, XM 209, IndyCar.com, indycarradio.com and on the INDYCAR 15 app. Stay up to date on all things Andretti via AndrettiAutosport.com and @FollowAndretti.

MARCO ANDRETTI
NO. 27 SNAPPLE HONDA
“I’d say this is the closest we’ve rolled off (the trucks) pretty much anywhere this year. Normally we’ve had to reinvent the wheel, but I think we’re a few tenths (of a second) off of being really good. We think we have a direction, so hopefully tomorrow we’ll be even closer.”

RYAN HUNTER-REAY
NO. 28 DHL HONDA
“It’s been a bit of a struggle today trying to get the exact balance that we know we can have here and that we’ve had in years past. We have such a high bar to set from the cars we’ve had here where we’ve qualified on pole, we finished on the podium with. We still have quite a bit work to do to get it sorted… We finished 10th at the end of the day in practice, and hopefully we can better that tomorrow. Ultimately Sunday is the big payday, so we’ve got a short amount of time to get it right but we still have a chance.”

CARLOS MUNOZ
NO. 26 ANDRETTITV / CINSAY HONDA
“In today’s second session we tried a few things, but I don’t think it worked out for us; we have to go back to see what works best. Today is just practice. Everyone is really close to each other (in times), and tomorrow we have to be perfect to be in the top 10. We still have one more practice to get it right before qualifying.”

JUSTIN WILSON
NO. 25 ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT HONDA
“Tough session – we weren’t as quick as we’d like, but we’re trying lots of different things. Hopefully we can put it all together and be quick tomorrow. Lot of data to go over tonight, a lot of work to do, but hopefully we’ll be there!”

Mazda Road to Indy Practice & Qualifying Report: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

SHELBY BLACKSTOCK
NO. 51 STARSTRUCK MAZDA

Series rookie was seen leading the field in times throughout today’s afternoon session

North Carolina resident finished the day P6 overall with a best time of 01:13.1494

“Today we made huge progression with the No. 51 Andretti Autosport Mazda. Today’s progress and overall performance with how the car reacted was so good for us. I made a slight mistake on our fast lap that cost us a couple tenths (of a second), but we’ll look over the data and see where we can get faster for qualifying. P6 for today and really happy with the progress; I think we can do a little better for tomorrow.”

WEIRON TAN
NO. 22 WEIRON TAN
ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT MAZDA

Currently second in the Pro Mazda Championship fight, the 20-year-old rookie qualified for tomorrow’s Race One in the fifth position

“Qualifying wasn’t what we expected… we expected a bit more, and we gave all that we really had. We’re still about three tenths (of a second) off of pole position, but it’s alright; we’re starting from fifth and hopefully gaining some positions in Race One. We’re going to race hard – that’s all we can do.”

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

Series sophomore, who is riding the momentum from his second-place finish at Iowa Speedway two weeks ago, will roll off the grid from the 11th position for tomorrow’s 13th round of competition of 2015

“Qualifying didn’t go how we would have liked it – definitely did not want to see the No. 28 K-Line Insulators USA Mazda starting back in P11… We’ll have to put our heads down tonight and figure out where we’re lacking pace and what we need to do to make up ground in the race tomorrow.”