CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES

CHILDREN’S OF ALABAMA INDY GRAND PRIX

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA

TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING REPORT

APRIL 29, 2023

TEAM CHEVY QUALIFIES SIX IN THE TOP-10 AT BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK

• Chevrolet will start two in the top-five, six in the top-10, in Sunday’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park.
• 2022’s event winner Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren INDYCAR and Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin represented Chevrolet in the Firestone Fast Six.
• All Team Penske and Arrow McLaren INDYCAR Chevrolets transferred from their respective qualifying groups to Segment 2 of the session, along with Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing.

TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 QUALIFYING RESULT:

POS. DRIVER

• 3rd     Pato O’Ward
• 4th     Scott McLaughlin
• 7th     Josef Newgarden
• 8th     Felix Rosenqvist
• 9th     Rinus VeeKay
• 10th   Alexander Rossi      

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING:

Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Chevrolet at Team Penske:

“We qualified seventh, which is pretty good. Not where the car should be. I think it’s a pole-winning car quite frankly, so I was certainly disappointed that we weren’t able to realize all of the potential but this crew has been phenomenal this weekend. I think the PPG car is going to be really fast in the race. We’re going to make good use of it, to try and move forward pretty quick, hopefully, and hopefully get another win on the board. That’s our goal.”

Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Chevrolet at Team Penske:

“Overall, pretty good day for the Good Ranchers Chevy. P4 we start tomorrow. I think we’ve got a pretty good car but just didn’t quite have enough for pole. A bit of me, a bit of the car. We’ll find a bit of speed overnight, and hopefully will come out stronger tomorrow. It’s going to be an interesting strategy. Strategy-wise, it’s going to be different with a three-stop, two-stop and who does what.”

Will Power, No. 12 Chevrolet at Team Penske:

“Not bad. I mean, I was determined to get into the top 12. Still just struggling with a little bit of straight-line speed. Still got to decide what we do with the engine. Obviously, everyone’s at the end of their miles. Some people change, some don’t, so there’s a bit of a discrepancy. You’ve got to think about what might hurt you down the road here. I think we can have a good race from there. It’s not a bad spot. Obviously, I’d like to be up further, but we’ll see what we can do. Hopefully, it’s a bit of a mixed-up strategy race, and we can play the right cards.”

Conor Daly, No. 20 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:

“We’re certainly not starting as far back as we were at Long Beach which is helpful! We started racing our way forward in Long Beach so we are looking to do the same here. I do think we have a chance to move forward as was a bit of confusion from one set of tires to another in our qualifying session. We lost a bit of the balance of the car on our second set. Just a shame, it’s very, very tight; very very close. I am happy that Rinus (VeeKay) was able to get a decent qualifying run. Obviously, we need a good race tomorrow. Hopefully, we can work some magic and move forward.”

Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:

“I am proud of the guys! We have been struggling this weekend, so making it into the Top 10 almost feels like a pole position. This morning I was 20th while pushing hard, but we made a big jump forward. We have a fast car now. Really, our race pace has been good all three races this season, we’ve just had a bunch of bad luck and not had the results. We also haven’t been able to put it together in qualifying, but this time we did! The team worked really hard and it paid off.”

Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

“We did some really good changes. I’m just really happy with what we did from practice 2 to qualifying. I mean, we missed it by less than a tenth, so we’re there. We’ve definitely found the lap time we wanted to. From practice to now working on the race car, it’s a different beast with the (tire degradation) and all that. You’ll see guys taking risks on the three-stopper, which ultimately is the quickest. But you can get hosed really easily by a yellow. The last couple of years, it’s been the fuel-save two-stopper, so I expect the Ganassis to be very quick. Obviously, Grosjean, it’s his second pole of the year, so I know he will be right on pace. I think for us, to have a good start, a good clean start. I don’t know what we’re going to do strategy-wise. Obviously, you want to go with the one that will win, so we’re just going to have to see what warmup says in terms of tire degradation from black to red and just play it from there.”

Felix Rosenqvist, No. 6 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

“I think there was more potential than that. Looking at Q1, we were pretty strong and Q2, I don’t know, it’s just so sensitive with tire warm-up and I just didn’t really feel like I had it in me or the car. Like, it wasn’t going to come. I did a decent lap but it wasn’t enough. Obviously, I’ve been close in the Fast Six three times in a row, so a bit bummed about that. But, honestly, where we started yesterday, I’m pretty happy to be P8. It’s a good spot, that gives us the fuel-save. Tomorrow, it could be to our advantage. We’re normally pretty good at that. Let’s see, you never know. Not too bad. My team, Arrow McLaren, always does a good job. Unfortunately, we have those weekends sometimes when you roll out, you don’t feel like you’re in it, and I think we did a really good turnaround from yesterday. We’re there. It’s super tight. Really good job from them, and we’ll see where we can end up tomorrow.”

Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

“It’s really disappointing. I mean, we thought we had a pretty easy top-six car and made a change there. You’re always so close, you kind of have to adjust to the track and evolution. Just made the wrong change. I think the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevy has been good all weekend. We started our very happy, we’ve been happy all weekend, we just made the wrong decision there. We know what to do for the race. It’s a constantly evolving championship and it’s so tight. You’re looking for hundredths, and so you’re always trying to optimize, and sometimes you take the step in the wrong direction.”

Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:

“Yeah, a lot of positive changes today for free practice two, then we had an issue with the clutch so we didn’t get to run our second set of new tires. So we made some blind changes going into qualifying to where we had a sensor fail. So, now we have a lot of tires. So should make for a fun race tomorrow.” 

Benjamin Pedersen, No. 55 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:

“Qualifying all wrapped up here at Barber. We’re just trying to figure out what is going to work the best for the race tomorrow. And I feel like we made a slight step in qualifying but we still have a pretty big step to make for the race tomorrow, but just staying focused and trying to figure out exactly what the car needs to go faster and I feel like we’re in a pretty good situation with tires for tomorrow. So hopefully we can try to gain a couple of positions if not more, being very smart with strategy and figuring out a way to move forward tomorrow.” 

Callum Ilott, No. 77 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:

“We start P15 overall. Could be better, could be worse. I felt the car was quite good. We’ve improved a lot. Just missed in one or two areas with it. The field is so tight, that that made the difference. But overall, I’m happy with the progress we’ve been making. Obviously, some others have made a little more progress from yesterday, but we’re heading in the right direction. I think, you know, this is a better track for us. Especially in the race, I think we’ll be all right. Looking forward to tomorrow. A few things to work on overnight. Should be a good one.”

Agustin Canapino, No. 78 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:

“Really happy with the progression, especially from practice to qualifying. We start P22 tomorrow, and we will try to do our race and finish the race we want to.”