CHEVROLET RACING IN THE VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
CHEVROLET DETROIT GRAND PRIX
STREETS OF BELLE ISLE
TEAM CHEVY PRACTICE DAY DRIVER QUOTES
JUNE 1, 2018

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 1 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET: “Solid first day here in Detroit.  We’ve got some great pace and I feel confident we’ll be able to challenge for the Verizon P1 award tomorrow in qualifying.  It’s a jam packed weekend with not a lot of time for adjustments so I’m very pleased the crew at Team Penske put together a car for me that was this comfortable out of the gate.”

MATHEUS LEIST, NO. 4 ABC SUPPLY AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET: The day went ok I think. It is my first time here in Detroit, so the first couple laps in Practice 1, we just concentrated on learning the track and getting some laps in. It’s a pretty tricky track, very bumpy, probably the bumpiest track I’ve ever been to, but it is ok. We still have some work to do for tomorrow, we are struggling a little bit with the red tires; on the blacks we seem ok. Happy to be here, I think it’s a nice street course. Looking forward to both races this weekend.”

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET: “Today’s practices were not bad. We kind of made a mistake when we were doing pretty well in that last session. We still have a bit of pace to find compared to the other cars but the No. 12 Verizon Chevy team is working to find it.”

TONY KANAAN, NO. 14 ABC SUPPLY AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET:  “It was a good first session and then we got a little bit messed up in the second. We hadn’t changed much from the morning. I think we were closer in the first session than the second; I think the other guys made a big jump so we’ve a got a little bit of work to do overnight. With the red flags, and my red flag, we didn’t have a lot of time to do anything so we’ll think about it and come back in qualifying tomorrow.”

JORDAN KING, NO. 20 ALLEGIANT INTERNATIONAL CHEVROLET: “We had a good feel of the circuit today and we got up to speed quite quickly. At the beginning of the second session, coming into the last corner, I lost the rear and got a bit of a snap. It wasn’t a big thing but by the time I caught the car, I was in too wide and then obviously the wall was right there. When we touched the wall, it broke the left rear which caused me to go across the circuit and hit the right side of the car. It’s really annoying because it was a tiny error, but it was quite costly.”

SPENCER PIGOT, NO. 21 FUZZY’S VODKA ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET: “We made some good improvements today. The second session was definitely a lot better, especially on blacks. We didn’t get a good run in on reds because of traffic and the red flag periods, but we are still encouraged. I am looking forward to qualifying in the morning and having the first race of the weekend tomorrow afternoon!”

SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 DXC TECHNOLOGY TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET: “It was a good day. I think the No. 22 DXC Technology Chevy is getting to where I want to be. This weekend we’re in a Chevy town so we want to do well for them. We have strong competition from the Hondas. It’s going to be tough but I feel like we’ve done a great job from practice no. 1 to practice no. 2 so we’re improving the car. Tomorrow we’re going to try and get into the Firestone Fast Six.”

CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. 23 TRESIBA CARLIN CHEVROLET: “It was kind of a scattered session. Every time we were getting ready to do a quick lap, it went red or yellow or we got held up in traffic. I’m a little disappointed with where we are on the timing sheets – I know there’s more in the No. 23 Tresiba Chevrolet. We found a couple of things in the setup that were much improved toward the end of that last session. I think we did our fastest lap time with old tires and a lot of fuel in the car, so that’s not bad at all. We’re not happy with 20^th, but the Carlin team has done a great job preparing for this race. We rolled off the truck looking really good, so we’ll continue to make improvements tonight and hopefully have a solid qualifying session tomorrow morning and a good race result.”

RENE BINDER, NO. 32 BINDERHOLZ JUNCOS RACING CHEVROLET: “It’s been a difficult first day in Detroit, the first time I have been to this circuit. It’s really tricky and the most difficult track I have ever drove on. I’m trying to get used to the bumps and the circuit. The more laps we are able to do the better I will get. I am looking forward to tomorrow and will do my best.”

MAX CHILTON, NO. 59 GALLAGHER CARLIN CHEVROLET:   “It wasn’t bad for us today. Outside of the Penske cars, we were the fastest Chevrolet car out there – I think that’s the first time we’ve done that this season. We’ve been right up there all day in the timing sheets, but we dropped down at the end of the session because a lot of the other cars went to reds toward the end. Overall I’m pretty happy with the balance and hopefully we can get a clean day ahead of us tomorrow.”

GABBY CHAVES, NO. 88 HARDING GROUP CHEVROLET: 
“Just finished first day of practice in Detroit. We found a lot that we could improve on in between practice sessions, so we’re really happy with that. We still need to work on a few things, but for the most part it was good to use the second session to get some laps in and work out the kinds on somethings. Overall I’m very happy with the direction we’ve taken, the results don’t show it yet, but I think we’ll keep improving this weekend.”