2020 Harvest Grand Prix – Race Two Arrow McLaren SP Race Report

Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Road Course  Dates: Friday, October 2 & Saturday, October 3  Rounds: 12&13/14  Race One Laps: 85   Race Two 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

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

Starting Position, Race Two: 5th Finish, Race Two: 5th Championship: 5th, 376 points “We ended up where we started, we didn’t go backwards, we didn’t go forwards. I think we maximized absolutely everything we could out of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet. Our black tire pace was where we really lost our chance at a podium. We have some work to do, but there’s one more race to go. We are going to try and get a win before the year ends. We are going to give it hell in St. Pete.”

Helio Castroneves – No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet

Starting Position, Race Two: 20th  Finish, Race Two: 21st Championship: 27th, 57 points “The result doesn’t show how much work everyone from Arrow McLaren SP put into this weekend to make sure I was comfortable. We tried a different strategy, and even if the strategy wasn’t right, it was right for me because I could push and understand more of the car on reds. I wish we could have another qualifying and race tomorrow. I can’t thank Sam, Ric, Zak and Arrow McLaren SP enough for an amazing job. The car is in one piece which is great. Great experience. Hopefully Oliver continues to look after his health.”

Taylor Kiel Managing Director, Arrow McLaren SP

“We knew going into today that we were going to be faced with a fuel-saving challenge.  We chose to split strategies; let Helio run hard and three stop, and ask Pato to fuel save and two stop.  Pato did a terrific job hitting his numbers all day long while maintaining a competitive lap time.  Helio also drove a good race, unfortunately the timely yellow he needed never came.  Overall, a good effort to finish strong after yesterday’s poor result.  I’m also happy with the pit stop performance today and both drivers’ in and out lap pace.  I always hate to leave IMS without a team victory, but I’m happy for our partners at Team Chevy to sweep both races.  We are very eager to get to St. Pete and challenge for a win in the final event of the season.”  Gil de Ferran Sporting Director, McLaren Racing “I think we can leave here happier with today’s results. On Helio’s side, we tried a different strategy and he was putting some impressive lap times during the race, but in the end it didn’t pay off in terms of final result.  I want to take this opportunity to thank Helio for his efforts on behalf of Arrow McLaren SP, it was great to have him around on many fronts!Pato displayed his usual aggressive and fast driving, pushed hard all race and squeezing everything out of the car!  The team did a great job on the stops and on strategy but we didn’t quite have enough to compete further up. On to the last round we go to close this season, fighting all the way to the end and hopefully we can close the year on a high note.”