Saturday, August 15, 2020 Arrow McLaren SP Qualifying Report

|Photographer: Kenneth Midgett|Event: 104th Running of the Indianapolis 500|Circuit: Indianapolis Motor Speedway|Location: Speedway, Indiana|Series: NTT IndyCar Series|Country: United States|Session: practice|Team: Arrow McLaren SP|Car: Dallara DW12 UAK18|Car: Chevrolet|Number: 5|Driver: Patricio O’Ward|
Pato O’Ward – No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet
Qualifying: 15th
Four-Lap Average: 230.213
Starting Position: 15th

“I think it was positive toward the end of the day. I think we started the day a little confused based on where we had ran yesterday. We fixed it for the afternoon. We improved a few spots, but didn’t have enough for the Fast Nine. Every time you improve a few positions, it is positive. We should look back and be happy with our last run because of the heat. We will start working on the race car now. Excited to see what Arrow McLaren SP and Chevrolet can do next week.”
Oliver Askew – No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet
Qualifying: 21st
Four-Lap Average: 229.760
Starting Position: 21st

“My first qualifying at the Indianapolis 500 was pretty exciting. First run ended up being our quickest, unfortunately, we weren’t able to go quicker. It looks like we are stuck in 21st right now. Probably the most frightening four laps of my life, but that’s what Indy 500 qualifying is all about. Looking forward to putting the race setup back on, because I feel like Arrow McLaren SP have a much more competitive package in race trim. Looking forward to the rest of the week.”
|Photographer: Kenneth Midgett|Event: 104th Running of the Indianapolis 500|Circuit: Indianapolis Motor Speedway|Location: Speedway, Indiana|Series: NTT IndyCar Series|Country: United States|Session: practice|Team: Arrow McLaren SP|Car: Dallara DW12 UAK18|Car: Chevrolet|Number: 66|Driver: Fernando Alonso|
Fernando Alonso -No. 66 Ruoff Mortgage Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet 
Qualifying: 26th
Four-Lap Average: 228.768
Starting Position: 26th

“The speed was not there yesterday in practice and today in qualifying. We know that so we just wanted to put in a solid run in for qualifying with no mistakes and execute the best we could. I think we achieved that and I’m happy with that. The No. 66 Ruoff Mortgage Arrow McLaren SP car was feeling great today. I think we have a good race car because the first few days we were on the competitive side. The starting place for the race is not changing our hopes for next Sunday. All our focus now is on the race. This place offers a lot of possibilities even for the people starting at the back and we will be looking to take that possibility next week.”
Taylor Kiel
Managing Director, Arrow McLaren SP
“It was a tough day. We battled conditions all day. We didn’t quite nail it this morning when the conditions were right, so we were on the back foot all day long. We came out swinging in the end. Gave it one more go and it worked out for Pato. He gained a few positions, but not so much for Oliver. Our focus all week has been on the race car, and we feel really good about it. Now it is time to focus on racing and winning the Indianapolis 500. That’s the ultimate prize.”
Gil de Ferran
Sporting Director, McLaren Racing
“Although we are not at the sharp end of the field, I think as a team we can be reasonably satisfied with our performance today. Pato managed to improve a little bit in his second run even though the improvement in his speed was quite small, he managed to improve to make up quite a few positions. In a way we put qualifying behind us and started focusing on the race as that is the most important part of this whole event. I’d like to thank the whole team as there has been a lot of effort getting us to where we are through a very intense four days. A lot of work by the mechanics and engineers, so I want to take the opportunity to thank them for their hard work and we look forward to next Sunday.”