VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
KOHLER GRAND PRIX
RACE REPORT
06.24.18

After 55 laps at Elkhart Lake’s National Park of Speed, Ryan Hunter-Reay collects another podium finish for the Andretti team, driving the 28 DHL Honda to second place. The team leaves Road America with three drivers in the top 10 in points standings.

The Verizon IndyCar Series now breaks for a weekend, returning to competition at Iowa Speedway July 8.

RYAN HUNTER-REAY, No. 28 DHL HONDA

• TARTED 3rd // FINISHED 2nd
• CHAMPIONSHIP: 2nd (348 pts. // tie with Rossi)
• OF NOTE: Today’s second-place finish is Hunter-Reay’s fourth podium finish of 2018 // Climbs from fourth to second in the points standings, tied with teammate Alexander Rossi 

“Hats off to Josef [Newgarden], he did a great job. I thought we had the pace for him early on, but after we took that second to last set of [Firestone] reds — and then at the end with him on the new reds — I could keep up with him for a bit, but then in the dirty air I just couldn’t do anything with him. That’s about all we had today. I thought the car was really good. I was hoping to make it a better show for the fans – I was hoping to get up there and make it interesting. I gave it 110% the whole way. Big thanks to the 28 DHL team – rock stars in the pit lane and continuing the consistency.”

MARCO ANDRETTI, No. 98 U.S. CONCRETE / CURB HONDA

• STARTED 15th // FINISHED 11th
• CHAMPIONSHIP: 9th (232 pts)
• OF NOTE: Took the green flag from 15th and worked his way to P9 by the second lap

“I made the call to go to blacks at the end when we should’ve gone with reds – so that cost us a top 10.  I just completely lost the front and went off the track. I  made an error there at the end of the race. I think I cost us a top 10 today.”

ALEXANDER ROSSI, No. 27 NAPA AUTO PARTS HONDA

• STARTED 4th // FINISHED 16th
• CHAMPIONSHIP: 2nd (348 pts. // tie with Hunter-Reay)
• OF NOTE: Maintained strong position in the top five until a mechanical issue on Lap 37 dropped Rossi to 11th // The NAPA Racing crew worked swiftly during an unscheduled pit stop on Lap 38 to repair front camber shims that had worked their way loose

“I definitely think we had a car to fight for a podium finish. It wasn’t enough to win today, but halfway though the second stint we had some camber shims fall out of the left front tire which made it pretty undrivable. It’s disappointing that something like that happened. It’s the way the world and racing works sometimes, but we’re still second in the championship and we’ll move focus to Iowa.”

ZACH VEACH, No. 26 RELAY / GROUP 1001 HONDA

• STARTED: 11th // FINISHED 22nd
• CHAMPIONSHIP: 16th (155 pts.)
• OF NOTE: Started suffering handling issues in the first stint and completed his first pit stop on Lap 13 // The 26 crew discovered a toe-link issue during an unschedule pit stop on Lap 18, the issue was repaired and Veach returned to the track

“We had something come loose on the steering racks. Basically one of the lock nuts that keep the toe-links in their position with the steering racks came loose. At the start I had a good start up to P8 into Turn 1 and then the steering wheel started going left-hand down further and further to the point where I was going down the straightaway with my hands at 7 and 2, so it was kind of strange. Our fear was it was going to put us in the wall so we stopped, luckily. My crew did a great job – they found it and fixed it but from that point on it set our fate to have no yellows here at Road America. We keep showing people we belong in the top-10 and we keep having performances to get us there but little things keep taking us out of it. I think people are noticing the speed that we have – we just need a little bit of luck.”