2021 Grand Prix of Portland – Practice and Qualifying Report

2021 Grand Prix of Portland Practice and Qualifying Report
Portland International Raceway 
Date: Sunday, September 12th 
Round: 14/16 
Race laps: 110 laps 
Total race distance: 216.04 miles/347.68 km 
Length: 1.96 miles/3.16 km 
Number of turns: 12 
Remaining session start times: 
Green Flag: Sunday, 3:30 p.m. ET
TUNE IN:Sunday, 3:00 p.m. ET on NBC
Felix Rosenqvist – No. 7 Vuse Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet
Practice 1: 13th, 00:59.1094
Qualifying:
Round 1 Group 2: 1st, 00:58.6912
Fast 12: 6th, 00:58.9629
Firestone Fast Six: 4th, 00:58.9505
Starting Position: 4th
Final Practice: 17th, 1:00.5299 
“We had a pretty good day and ended up qualifying fourth. I think the car felt good all day. Every session it has been good enough for a top five, so that’s where you want to be. When you are in the Fast Six, you always want to go for the pole, so there are some mixed feelings there, but overall it’s good to have another solid qualifying. We can be up there and compete. It’s good for Pato too that we can be up front with him and help him compete for the championship. The final practice was solid for the team as well. It is always hard to judge the tire degradation and all that, but I think we are in a good spot.”

Pato O’Ward – No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet
Practice 1: 4th, 00:58.8933
Qualifying:
Round 1 Group 1: 6th, 00:59.2142
Fast 12: 7th, 00:58.9732
Starting Position: 7th
Final Practice: 16th, 1:00.4529 
“We didn’t have too bad of a day. We qualified seventh. Considering where we were on pace with reds, we extracted the most out of the car that we could. Felix did a great job to start fourth tomorrow. We are two rows behind, so I just think we need to get through Turn 1. Turn 1 here in Portland is usually pretty chaotic, so we just need to keep our nose clean in the beginning and try to run a smart race. From there we will see where we can pick up some spots.”
Taylor Kiel – President, Arrow McLaren SP
“It was a pretty good day for Arrow McLaren SP. It’s one of the best combined qualifying efforts we have had as a team in a very long time. It was great to see Felix fighting in the Firestone Fast Six and ultimately qualifying in fourth, which is a great start for him, and Pato is not far off in seventh. Would we like to be starting further up? Yes, absolutely, but we can win from both of those positions. We had a good final practice, we know where our car lies, we know what changes we need to make overnight and we are looking forward to a good day tomorrow.”