NTT INDYCAR SERIES
Round 8
ELKHART LAKE’S ROAD AMERICA

Andretti Autosport and Alexander Rossi took the NTT Pole Award for the Sonsio Grand Prix of Road America after an intense qualifying session. Three of the four Andretti Autosport drivers reached the top 12, with rookie Devlin DeFrancesco nearly missing the transfer out of Group 1 on Firestone Black Tires. Romain Grosjean took one flying lap inside the top 12 and finished seventh after an electrical issue resulted in a lack of track time. Rossi and Colton Herta advanced to the Firestone Fast Six. Herta will start tomorrow’s race fifth.

ALEXANDER ROSSI
NO. 27 NAPA AUTO PARTS / AUTONATION HONDA

• QUALIFYING RESULT: 1st, NTT Pole Award
• LAP TIME: 1:44.8656

“Three years removed from my last pole, so I hope I remember what to do tomorrow. It’s been an amazing weekend for the whole team and the No. 27 guys have just been on it lately. It’s really really cool to come back to Road America where we’ve had a lot of success in the past. We have a big job ahead of us tomorrow, but the cars been spot on all weekend, so hopefully, we can go out and execute and bring this whole journey full circle from three years ago.”

COLTON HERTA
NO. 26 GAINBRIDGE HONDA

• QUALIFYING RESULT: 5th
• LAP TIME: 1:45.5388

“We missed it a little bit in the (Firestone) Fast Six, otherwise we were really good. I was really happy with the balance on the Firestone (Alternate) Reds. We only missed it a tiny bit in the Fast Six, but we were close. I am happy with fifth and we will have to see what comes for the race.”

ROMAIN GROSJEAN
NO. 28 UNIFIRST/DHL HONDA

• QUALIFYING RESULT: 7th
• LAP TIME: 1:45.1543

“It was a hell of a lap. Obviously, the tires weren’t quite up to temperature, and I tried everything I could but just missed it by a tenth which was very impressive. We were dealing with a technical issue, so we just need to make sure that we understand it and don’t get it in the future. Seventh is a good place to start the race. The conditions are not easy and change every day. The track changed a bit from the first and second run, but I was up there. Thanks to my teammates – I kind of copied a setup after FP2 as we got a bit lost with engineering and got it back together and it worked.” 

DEVLIN DEFRANCESCO
NO. 29 POWERTAP HONDA
ANDRETTI STEINBRENNER AUTOSPORT

• QUALIFYING RESULT: 21st
• LAP TIME: 1:46.0785

“Generally a tough day for us. We were on the transfer window on blacks and then ran out of fuel. It is just something we need to look at internally and regroup. Overall, the No. 29 PowerTap Andretti Steinbrenner Honda is good. We have work to do tomorrow.”