Pato O’Ward – No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet

Practice: 28thSpeed: 221.341Total Laps: 55  “I think it was a solid first day for the entire Arrow McLaren SP team. I think we still have some work to do but I think we are in a good spot. Today was about running in traffic and trying to create the best package for us for race day. We have to keep chipping at it and working at it. We will start off tomorrow where we ended today and keep improving. Thank you to everyone on the team and at Chevrolet for giving us a good starting point.”

Oliver Askew – No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet

Practice: 31stSpeed: 220.130Total Laps: 51  “First day here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in an Indy car is pretty special for anyone. It’s great to feel the magic of the place again and to be around other cars. An extra 20-30 mph compared to an Indy Lights car is quite a big difference at those speeds. It’s a bit daunting at first, but as I got used to it I got very comfortable by the end of the day. I’m looking forward to more running tomorrow and to turn up the boost on Friday. Everyone at Arrow McLaren SP and Team Chevy have being doing a really good job so far. The car feels really nice in traffic, and we will continue progressing in all areas.”

Fernando Alonso -No. 66 Ruoff Mortgage Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet

Practice: 5thSpeed: 223.238Total Laps: 29  “Today was good. I think we had the day that we wanted, which was a clean day with no issues and trouble-free. In the morning, we got up to speed with the refresher and in the afternoon we cut it a bit short to work on the car. We may have potentially missed one run in traffic but it’s nothing we can’t make up tomorrow. We are working step by step, improving the car a little bit each time. We are working on the balance and getting used to the speed again, more in my case than the team. The team is was maybe more ready than me on this first day. We will grow together and got some good mileage today. We have a good understanding of the car and will hopefully have a good setup ready to go tomorrow.”

Taylor Kiel Managing Director, Arrow McLaren SP

“Today went well. Today’s main goal was to get Pato, Oliver and Fernando through their Refresher or Rookie Orientation programs and all that went well. We were then able to focus on the cars and their balance to become quicker. Arrow McLaren SP got through what we needed to today: knocked off the rust and got the young guys some laps in traffic. Times don’t matter much today, and it was a bit of a crapshoot with as many cars as there were on track today. We will dig into it tonight and see what we can do for tomorrow.”

Gil de Ferran Sporting Director, McLaren Racing

“Thankfully, it was a fairly uneventful day, with not much to report! It was the first day back in a single-seater for over one year for Fernando and, as usual, it went smoothly. It was also the first day for the crew of the No. 66 Ruoff Mortgage Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet all together and there are definitely some things we can improve on. As a team, Arrow McLaren SP went through several test items and there is much analysis to be done overnight to ensure we keep evolving our performance from day to day. In the end, it was a good day for Pato, Oliver, Fernando, and the whole team.”