Rookie Enerson surprises with Top 12 qualifying
Rookie Enerson surprises with Top 12 qualifying
Watkins Glen, NY (September 3, 2016) – Dale Coyne Racing’s rookie RC Enerson continued to impress on Saturday, with the young American qualifying 11th for what will only be his second Verizon IndyCar Series start.
The 19-year-old even surprised himself by making it to the second round of qualifying thanks to a fast lap of 1:23.9250 in Round 1. The driver of the Boy Scouts of America car was sitting right outside of the Top Six until his final lap of the 10-minute first round session.
Enerson went on to register a fastest lap of 1:23.9907 in Round 2 of qualifying which would initially place him sixth. After spending most of the second round in eighth place, he ended up 11th on the starting grid.
Teammate Conor Daly wasn’t as fortunate during the first round, getting a drive-through penalty for a violation of the pit exit blend line that cost him track time and a possible chance at making it to the second round.
Daly’s fastest time of 1:24.2606 initially placed him sixth, but being the first driver to take the checkered flag, he would soon find himself ninth in his group and 17th on the starting grid once everyone completed their final lap.
The Dale Coyne Racing drivers will have a 30-minute warm up session to fine tune their Honda-powered machines at 10:30am Sunday morning.
The penultimate race of the season will be televised live on NBCSN starting at 2pm ET with the IndyCar Grand Prix at The Glen going green at 2:37pm ET on Sunday, September 4, 2016.
What they have to say:
Conor Daly – #18 Jonathan Byrd’s Hospitality & Restaurant Group
“The car was good. That’s the nice thing. The Jonathan Byrd’s Hospitality car was really fast and it felt good on the Firestone Reds. I haven’t seen the pit lane exit violation, I was just following Hunter-Reay out in front of me. I don’t feel like I crossed any lines so to have something like that destroy a qualifying session, again is pretty disappointing. It’s a shame because even though we got one final lap the car was coming to us quite well. At least we have a fast car, it’s just upsetting to be starting near the back.”
RC Enerson – #19 Boy Scouts of America
“That’s crazy to make it to the second round in only my second IndyCar qualifying. I didn’t expect it with the way the weekend was going. We were running towards the back a bit, trying to figure things out but these guys hit it with the car right on. We still have a little bit of work to do on what we want to do for race set up but starting 11th, I’m OK with that! We can’t really do much better than that right now. We got into the second group and anything else was a bonus!”