Jones equals best qualifying of the season with 11th place start

Jones equals best qualifying of the season with 11th place start

Elkhart Lake, WI (June 24, 2017) – Dale Coyne Racing drivers Ed Jones and Esteban Gutierrez took part in Verizon IndyCar Series qualifying at the picturesque Road America circuit on Saturday with the pair of rookies qualifying 11th and 17th, respectfully.

For the second time this season, Jones made it into the second round of qualifying by placing fifth in his group. The driver of the #19 Boy Scouts of America car advanced to the next round thanks to a lap time of 1:42.7865 that initially placed him third.

Jones continued to struggle with getting his tires up to temperature in the second round of qualifying, which impacted his ultimate place on the grid. While he would place first after his first lap, he would later fall to 11th of the Fast 12 drivers with a lap of 1:43.7959 on his second and final lap. His qualifying result matches his best starts of the season.

n the team’s 18 car, Gutierrez was the first of the DCR drivers to take to the track in Group 1 of qualifying. The pilot of the Unifin Honda immediately jumped to first place on his first timed lap, but he would later find himself ninth in his group with a fastest lap time of 1:43.1652. Gutierrez will be making what is only his third IndyCar start from 17th place.

The KOHLER Grand Prix goes green on Sunday, June 25 at 1:17pm Eastern time. The race will be broadcast live on NBCSN starting at 12:30pm ET.

What they have to say:

Esteban Gutierrez – #18 Unifin Honda
“This weekend has been very interesting for me with how the weather is influencing the car behavior. So, I’ve been working hard with the engineers to try and understand how we can be better. Obviously, this car, I find, is quite sensitive to every change that you do on the set up. I’m getting experience. I think it was a fair qualifying today for me. I would have liked to be much quicker than what I was today in qualifying but I’m working my way through to be better.”

Ed Jones – #19 Boy Scouts of America Honda
“It was a tough qualifying. It’s a lot cooler today than it was yesterday so that has changed a few things. I was struggling with bringing the tires in and so it took too long to get up to pace. I think we have some work to do for tomorrow, if not we might struggle in the early laps. All in all, though, it’s still good to get through to the second round of qualifying and hopefully we can get into the Top 10 tomorrow.”