Team Chevy Driver Post Qual Notes and Quotes
CHEVROLET RACING IN THE VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
DESERT DIAMOND WEST VALLEY PHOENIX GRAND PRIX
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY (ARIZONA)
QUALIFYING QUOTES
FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2016
POST QUALIFYING DRIVER QUOTES:
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 REV GROUP TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, POLE WINNER: ON HIS LAP: “It was a moment. It was interesting. It was in turn four actually which was something we never had. The first lap was really big and I was really happy with the balance of the car. I was very surprised actually that it happened.At the end of the day, the car was strong. The REV Group Chevrolet was really, really strong. Now we have to keep pushing so hopefully we finish at the top.”
ON THE SPEED: “19 second a lap, it is pretty impressive. The fans that are going to be here at Phoenix are going to see the fastest cars in the world going around this place.”
TONY KANAAN, NO. 10 GE LED CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 2ND: It was pretty good, and the conditions changed a lot since this morning, so it was a little tricky to make a decision in what to do with the car. But I think big props to Chevy and Pratt & Miller on their accurate data because we made some changes in the car. It was totally blind, just according to the numbers they gave us, and it was spot on.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 2 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 3RD: “I felt we did a good job there with what we had. We had such a bad first practice, it was a bit of a mess. So we recovered pretty well. We have a short practice tonight. So you have to guess. It is hard. It is going to be very hard because conditions are different and the track is going to change between today and tomorrow.”
CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. 83 NOVO NORDISK CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 4TH: “I think qualifying is really important here at Phoenix. If the race track races like it did during testing last month, passing will be at a premium. Having a solid qualifying effort today was important. We spent a fair amount of time working on everything this morning in practice, but it was broken up due to two big yellows for accidents. We were fortunate enough to get a few qualifying simulations in early and I was pretty happy with the car overall. The 83 car looks good and is quick at the same time.”
ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S ULTRA PREMIUM VODKA CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 5TH: “We wanted to be 1-2 all weekend! While we weren’t able to accomplish that, our main goal is to win the race. We still have a good opportunity in front of us for that. It’s a good thing when you’re a little frustrated about starting 5th! I know there’s more speed in the car, we just didn’t quite get the right downforce level for qualifying in these conditions. IndyCar is so tough, we’re fighting over hundredths and thousands. It doesn’t take much to get a jump on your competition so we’ll chalk this up and remember it for next time.”
SCOTT DIXON, NO. 9 TARGET CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 6TH: “The car was ok today. It’s always tough when someone puts it in the wall just before you go out and qualify. The Target car was pretty strong and my teammates all did well in practice and we worked together on setup info. We struggled a little bit with overall grip in qualifying. It wasn’t ideal but I think we can be strong in the race.”
JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 21 FUZZY’S ULTRA PREMIUM VODKA CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 7TH: “We hung it out there like we needed to and got up relatively high up in the field. Not quite what we wanted, I thought both myself and Ed were going to be pole contenders for sure. We had great cars with the Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevrolets. We were just battling the conditions there. I don’t think we quite had what we needed, but even though we’re not on the pole we still have fast racecars!”
MAX CHILTON, NO. 8 GALLAGHER CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 8TH: “I had a pretty good run and immediately gave Kanaan some feedback when I got out of the car and he came up. It was amazing how much the track can change in such a short period of time. It’s tough being the first car out there without any feedback but I think the Gallagher team will be ready to go for tomorrownight.”
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 9TH: “We had a lot of push in the Verizon Chevrolet in our qualifying run and we just didn’t have the right balance. We had to lift going into Turn 1 so we lost some speed there. So we’ll start in the middle of the pack tomorrow. It will be a long race and we’ll see how things go from there. Excited to be back racing here racing in Phoenix and I think it will be an interesting race.
SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 DEVILBLISS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 10TH: “I don’t think it was a really good run to be honest. The DeVilbiss Chevy had a lot of movement on the tires on the first lap and it was very tricky into turn one. So, we lost a lot of time in the first lap. It’s going to be a
long race but it just started so, we look forward to tomorrow’s race.
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 11 TEAM HYDROXYCUT KVSH RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 15TH: “This morning the Hydroxycut machine had a lot of understeer. So for this afternoon we made some changes, but it is always tough when you go into qualifying with a question about what you have. The car was very free going into the turns and started to push mid-corner and out, so I wasn’t sure what to do… I backed out of the tools, but it wasn’t enough to pull a good run. I am not quite sure what happened, but we will take a look at the data, make some changes for tonight’s practice and see what we can do in the race tomorrow.”