VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
GRAND PRIX OF PORTLAND
PRACTICE REPORT
08.31.18

The first official day of track activity at Portland International Raceway has concluded after seeing two practice sessions for this weekend’s Grand Prix of Portland.

Tomorrow the field of 25 will see one last practice session before they qualify on the 1.967-mile road course. NBC Sports Network will cover the qualifying session at 7:30 p.m. ET.

MARCO ANDRETTI, No. 98 MILITARYTOMOTORSPORTS.COM/CURB HONDA

• Ended the day fourth quickest overall with a fast lap time of 57.4668 seconds
• Finished each session the top Andretti driver and ended the second session in P2

“We’ve been in the top four all weekend and the car is particularly good on [Firestone] Reds. I think we can still make a small improvement, but I think we have enough to make it into the Firestone Fast Six tomorrow. We’ve been guessing correctly with the balance between the [Firestone] Blacks and Reds and that makes it fun for me because we’re kind of hitting it on both compounds, and I think if we follow the track correctly, we can have a shot at pole.”

ZACH VEACH, No. 26 GROUP 1001 HONDA

• Ended the day ninth quickest overall with a fast lap time of 57.7225 seconds
• Finished both practice sessions in the top 10

“Overall today was pretty good. I’m a little upset that we didn’t get the most out of our Firestone [Reds] at the end of the day. I made a small mistake that put us P8 instead of probably in the top three. I think we have a pretty good car and a pretty good chance this weekend but I need to put it altogether.”

ALEXANDER ROSSI, No. 27 NAPA AUTO PARTS HONDA

• Ended the day 11th quickest overall with a fast lap time of 57.7892 seconds

“We made good progress from yesterday to today. We weren’t able to get our fast lap in at the end of the session when we were on [Firestone] Reds, which is unfortunate, but I think the car is pretty good. It’s very difficult to pull it all together around here with it being such a short lap. We’re going to have to keep moving forward and stay on top of the conditions, but I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

RYAN HUNTER-REAY, No. 28 DHL HONDA

• Ended the day 19th quickest overall with a fast lap time of 57.9253

“Today was just one of those days when absolutely nothing went right, especially during the second session with new [Firestone] Red tires – we weren’t able to get a good run on them. Cars kept coming out in front of us on track, and we weren’t able to get our run going or able to do anything with it. I think right now we’re about a P7 car and that’s not going to cut it. We need to go back to the drawing board tonight and make sure the DHL machine has a shot at the pole tomorrow.”