2020 Harvest GP – Practice & Qualifying Report

|Photographer: Taylor Robbins|Event: INDYCAR Harvest GP Race 1|Circuit: Indianapolis Motor Speedway|Location: Speedway, Indiana|Series: NTT IndyCar Series|Country: United States|Session: FP1|Season: 2020|Team: Arrow McLaren SP|Car: Dallara DW12 UAK18|Car: Chevrolet|Number: 5|Driver: Patricio O’Ward|
Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Road Course Dates: Friday, October 2 & Saturday, October 3 
Rounds: 12&13/14 
Race One Laps: 85 
Race One total distance: 207.32 miles/333.63 km 
Race Two Laps: 75 
Race Two total distance: 182.93 miles/294.375 km 
Length: 2.439 miles/3.925 km 
Number of turns: 14 
Session start times: Race One – Green Flag: Friday, 4:00 p.m. ET
Qualifying – Race Two: Saturday, 10:20 – 10:50 a.m. ET
Race Two – Green Flag: Sunday, 2:30 p.m. ET
TUNE IN – RACE ONE: Friday, 3:30PM ET on USA Network
TUNE IN – RACE TWO: Saturday, 2:30PM ET on NBC
Pato O’Ward – No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet
Practice: 8th, 1:10.6307
Qualifying, Race One: 10th, 1:10.7290 (Group 1)
Starting Position, Race One: 10th “Honestly, the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet improved quite a bit from practice to the little time we got in that qualifying session. That was definitely a positive but it was unlucky to get caught out by that red flag and we didn’t get any running on the red alternate tires. I think the car would have been strong on the reds. We will have to see what we can do tomorrow. We will have an extra set of reds since we didn’t really use them in qualifying. It should shake up pretty interestingly in the race.”
Helio Castroneves – No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet
Practice: 23rd, 1:11.6269
Qualifying, Race One: 19th, 1:10.6224 (Group 2)
Starting Position, Race One: 19th “I have to thank everyone from Arrow McLaren SP, they did such a great job to accommodate all the little bits that a new driver needs to make everything okay, which is difficult. Everyone, including Robert Wickens and Oliver Askew, were working together to try to maximize the time we had the best we can because of the way the schedule is so compact. For me it was great. It’s not fun to start in the back, but to this point, it is great to be back. Let’s go for the race, we are going to learn a lot for sure.”
Taylor Kiel
Managing Director, Arrow McLaren SP
“First of all it’s great to be back here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and in front of fans. We are happy to see Team Chevy on the pole. It’s been an up-and-down weekend for us so far with an untimely caution in qualifying for Pato. Helio’s doing a great job getting up to speed. He’s been an absolute pleasure to work with and he’s done a great job adapting to our team and competing in an incredibly tough situation. I’m proud of all the hard work. We have pace but haven’t had the chance to show it yet. So hopefully we will bring a good strategy to the table tomorrow and make our way to the front.”

Gil de Ferran
Sporting Director, McLaren Racing


“It was very little running today when you step back and look at it. On Pato’s side, we tried a few things to improve the car, and I think he had a good shot. It’s unfortunate the session got cut short in his qualifying group, but that’s how it goes sometimes. Considering how little time Helio’s had in the car, I think he did a really good job. So, I’m sure things are going to get better throughout the weekend. We have to take what we can get today and see if we can move forward tomorrow.”