CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES

• SONSIO GRAND PRIX AT ROAD AMERICA
• ELKHART LAKE, WISCONSIN
• TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING RECAP
• JUNE 17, 2023

PATO O’WARD PUTS CHEVY ON FRONT ROAD AT ROAD AMERICA

ELKHART LAKE, Wisc (June 17, 2023) –

• Pato O’Ward captured a front row starting position at Road America with a lap of one minute, 40.3643 seconds
• Three Team Chevy drivers advanced to Firestone Fast Six-O’Ward-No.5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, Josef Newgarden-No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet and Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet
• For the first time since St.  Petersburg, 2018 AJ Foyt Racing had both drivers advance to the Fast 12 in INDYCAR knockout qualifying
• Ryan Hunter-Reay made his first appearance as the new driver of the No. Bitnile.com Chevrolet for Ed Carpenter Racing – an off-track excursion cut his qualifying attempt short
• All 27 drivers qualifying for tomorrow’s race beat the pole time from last year of one minute, 44.8645 seconds
• Colton Herta won the NTT P1 award with time of one minute, 40.1945 secoonds
• The 55-lap, 220.77-mile race on Sunday will take the green flag at 12:25 p.m. CT, 1:25 p.m. ET, live on USA Network. 

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (QUOTES):

Josef Newgarden, No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet:

“Hey Everybody – great session for us in the No. 2 car. We ended up P4 here in qualifying which was not too bad. You know I think our potential was was right around that I think it was going to be difficult to talk for today. He had really good speed up the whole session and we made really good gains this morning and then all throughout qualifying. So so proud of the team. I think our our Chevy engine was was really solid. We had good good power today. Really good drivability. So super happy with everybody’s performance, just missing a little bit still. So those those first couple of cars so I think if we can work tonight on how to take care of the tires, we should be in a good position to fight for the win tomorrow and it’d be great to get PBG car back in victory lane this weekend.”

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

“Front row start, we just missed pole there by a tad. I got a little wide in the Canada Corner [Turn 12]. By then, you can’t back off, so I rode through it. I think that’s where we lost it a bit.

“This is a very good starting position for us. It’s a long race. It’ll be interesting tomorrow with the Firestone Reds and Blacks because the reds just aren’t faster. That’s usually the complete opposite everywhere else we’ve ever been. I’m happy with the car, and we’re ready to flow with it tomorrow.”

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

“I made a mistake on my Firestone Blacks tire run. We decided to run new blacks to start the round and in Turn 12, as I was finishing the lap, I had a wobble and basically threw away the lap. From then on, there was the red flag and it was hard to come back from that. It was on me, I made a mistake. Normally, I’m pretty good at piecing a lap together, but it didn’t work out today. I think we definitely had a car for the Firestone Fast Six. You can fight from here on this track, we’ll just have to regroup for tomorrow.”

Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Arrow McLaren INDYCAR Chevrolet:

”We’ve had a great car all weekend. The test last week was good for us, obviously, as we led both practices. It was a messy qualifying for us; I got a pit speed penalty in Round 1, which really put us on the back foot because we never got a lap down on Firestone Reds. You can’t make those mistakes. That one’s on me.

“The car has been great all weekend, and it’s still our best road and street course qualifying by far this year, so we’ll take that positive. We certainly have a car that can win the race tomorrow.”

Will Power, No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske Chevrolet:

“The incident this morning with (Scott) Dixon in practice ruined the whole weekend for us. We got out there and did everything I could manage. It’s just so hard in this INDYCAR field that if you’re behind the eight ball, it’s hard to recover.  When you go out after the damage we had from the crash-a new front wing and a new floor so you don’t really know where the arrow balance will be. It is so frustrating because I felt like we were really quick this morning. I gave it my all, just couldn’t string anything together. Massively disappointing for the team. The guys worked so hard to repair the car.”

Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 20 Bitnile.com Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet:

 “We were definitely trying everything we could set-up wise to get more speed out of the No. 20 BITNILE.COM Chevrolet. We had some really promising changes going into qualifying, just trying to get the most out of it. We were pushing 110%, searching for a half of a tenth of a second, and just lost the rear of the car. Once you get in the gravel, it’s all over from there. It’s not a big setback in terms of contact, just tough not to be able to get everything out of it today.”

Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Direct Supply Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet:

 “We had the pace for at least the Fast 12 and I wish we could have made it! The red tires were just a bit unpredictable and handled a lot differently than at other race tracks. We couldn’t really maximize those perfectly, so that set us back. It’s a long race tomorrow and many things can happen, we will work our way forward to where we should be!”

Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 Sexton Properties AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet:

“To have both of our cars to be starting next to each other is a huge feat considering where this road course program was a year ago. So you know, we’ll just keep working on it. I feel our car doesn’t wear the tires out so excited for the race. It’s just it’s a fun track. The repave is really nice. So hats off to this place. It’s phenomenal. I mean, I was actually surprised to hear that they were going to repave it because I really liked the old track but driving on the new the new pavement I just like it that much more.”

Benjamin Pedersen, No. 55 Sexton Properties AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet:

Hey Benjamin Peterson here at driver the number 55 Sexton properties team Chevy IndyCar really good. Good week so far we struggled a bit in the beginning but the whole team did a tremendous job to recover to qualify well. Best-Ever qualifying for me my IndyCar career. Not that I’ve had very many, but yeah, P10. As a rookie made into the fast 12 Yeah,  just huge momentum for the whole team, especially coming off the month of May. But yeah, very, very proud of everyone. And yeah, we’re just getting better and better and better. Everyone’s working really hard. And yeah, starting a race p 10. And looking forward to tomorrow for the race day.”

Callum Ilott, No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet:

“Yeah, it is a weird session for us. Honestly, I expected quite a lot more. Ended up P17 overall. So still okay place to raise from but a bit more work to do for tomorrow. Well we had two guys spin in front of me on both runs. Now we’re in a couple of laps, which was annoying. So there was a little bit more in it, but still, there’s a lot for us to improve on. So just need to see. This has been a tricky weekend so far haven’t haven’t quite got there. But the race is a whole different ballgame and I think we can do a good job

Agustin Canapino, No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet:

“We finish at P21 in our qualification, I’m very happy with the performance from our team. We are improving between the morning and now. I think we have a good car for  tomorrow to do a race. We always go to finish the race and we try to finish the race in the best position possible. I am looking forward to the race.”