Solid qualifying effort for Dale Coyne Racing in Long Beach
Solid qualifying effort for Dale Coyne Racing in Long Beach
Long Beach, CA (April 16, 2016) – Dale Coyne Racing drivers Luca Filippi and Conor Daly had strong qualifying runs in Long Beach on Saturday, respectively placing 12th and 13th on the starting grid for Sunday’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Filippi, who went out in Group 2, put in a fastest lap of 1:07.6214 in Round 1, which initially placed him fifth in his group. The Italian ended up seventh at the end of the session, however, he made it back into the Top 6 when Sebastien Bourdais’ final lap was disallowed for having taken the checkered flag twice.
The Boy Scouts of America driver then went out in the final five minutes of Round 2 to try and make it into the Firestone Fast Six, but a mistake on the start of his final lap meant that he’d have to settle with his quickest lap of 1:07.9303 and a 12th place in the starting lineup.
Daly, also put in a solid qualifying effort, spending most of the 10-minute Group 1 session in the Top 6, improving his time with every lap. However, he was relegated to seventh once all drivers had taken the checkered flag. The driver of the Jonathan Byrd’s Hospitality car missed out on Round 2 of qualifying by a mere 0.041 seconds with a fastest lap of 1:07.7520.
The Dale Coyne Racing drivers will be back on track at 9am local time for a final warm up on Sunday morning, ahead of the 1:45pm green flag.
The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach will be broadcast live on NBCSN starting at 4pm ET (1pm local).
Live timing and scoring will be available at racecontrol.indycar.com.
Dale Coyne Racing Driver Quotes
Luca Filippi – #19 Boy Scouts of America
“We had a solid first round and the Boys Scouts of America car was working very well. I think we were very close to the guys on top. We made good progress. We still have a lot to learn, but it’s nice to see that that we’re working in the right direction. I felt confident which is important for the race tomorrow. In the Fast 12, I made a mistake closing the lap and opening the last one so it would have been difficult to improve because I had a slow start to the last lap, so I just came in. With getting to the Fast 12 we can actually now think differently about the race for tomorrow because we have fast guys in front of us and we can maybe just work our pace more than a strategy. It will be important to have a strong pace.”
Conor Daly – #18 Jonathan Byrd’s Hospitality & Restaurant Group
“We were close and that’s the thing. I’m hugely thankful for the progress that we’ve made. To be nearly last in the qualifying at St. Pete, same in Phoenix, it’s very cool to be fighting for the Top 12 group now and that’s what our goal is, to keep improving. It’s cool that we’ve done that. It was really close. Hopefully at Barber we can make it into the Top 12 next time. I think we have a great car for tomorrow and that it will come down to who can make the Firestone Reds last the longest and the most efficiently. I don’t know how that is going to work out but hopefully it works out in our favor.”
Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Schedule (all times local)
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Warm-up: 9:00am – 9:30am
Race: 1:45pm green flag (80 laps)