Arrow McLaren Press Release

2022 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Arrow McLaren SP Race Report

Posted on by Patrick Stephan
Streets of St. Petersburg 
Date: Sunday, February 27th  
Round: 1/17 
Race laps: 100 
Total race distance: 180 miles/289.68 km 
Length: 1.8 miles/2.89 km 
Number of turns: 14
Pato O’Ward – No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet
Starting Position: 16th
Finishing Position: 12th
Championship Standing: 12th, 18 points 
“We finished 12th today at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. We had a great start, going from 16th to ninth on the first lap. From there, I was like ‘Oh yes, let’s get a great race in,’ but we didn’t really nail the strategy. We weren’t on the right strategy with the three-stop and got stuck back in 12th. We will give it hell in Texas.”
Felix Rosenqvist – No. 7 Vuse Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet 
Starting Position: 21st
Finishing Position: 17th
Championship Standing: 17th, 13 points 

“The first race of the season is complete in St. Petersburg. We ended 17th and really couldn’t move up in the field. The way our strategy turned out is pretty much where we started the race. That’s what happens when you start in the back, you don’t really go anywhere unless you luck out with the strategy; which we didn’t have today. I thought the pace was pretty good, the best it was all weekend; but we couldn’t take advantage of it. Now, we will reload for Texas.” 
Taylor Kiel – President, Arrow McLaren SP
“The end result made it a tough day. Both Arrow McLaren SP cars moved forward through the field, which passing in traffic here at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is a difficult thing to do. Track position is king. With that in mind, we took an alternate strategy very early in the race with both cars. That put us P2 and P6 on that strategy, but turns out it split the field in half and we were on the wrong end of it. No fault of anyone, as the yellow fell when it did and ultimately brought the other strategies back into play. “

“I’m proud of everybody for their work in the offseason, and I feel that we have strong cars. When we were able to show it in clean air, we had as good of pace as anybody. We were able to protect the tires, and Team Chevy has done a great job with the drivability work. All offseason, our drivers have been optimistic about our package this year. It was just a tough weekend based on how we qualified and we knew it was going to be an uphill battle. We will take this one and move on to Texas.”