Arrow McLaren 2023 Bitnile.com Grand Prix of Portland Practice Report

Portland International Raceway

Practice and qualifying date: Saturday, September 2

Round: 16/17

Total laps: 110 Laps

Total race distance: 216 miles/347.6 km

Length: 1.96 miles/3.16 km

Number of turns: 12

Session start times:

• Green Flag: Sunday, 12:30 p.m. PT

TUNE IN: Sunday, 12:00 p.m. PT on NBC

Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet

Practice 2: 9th, 00:58.4850

Total Laps: 23

Qualifying:

• Round 1, Group 2: 3rd, 00:58.1025
• Round 2: 3rd, 00:58.2579
• Firestone Fast Six: 6th, 00:58.6737

Starting Position: 6th

Final Practice: 25th, 01:00.6313

“It’s another Firestone Fast Six for us. Obviously there’s still something we need to find in the Fast Six because we have yet to be on pole, and I’m not quite sure why we were so far off from the rest of the cars in the Fast Six. It’s still a decent starting position for tomorrow.”

Felix Rosenqvist, No. 6 NTT DATA Arrow McLaren Chevrolet 

Practice 2: 11th, 00:58.5150

Total Laps: 23

Qualifying:

• Round 1, Group 2: 1st, 00:57.8967
• Round 2: 11th, 00:59.3053

Starting Position: 11th

Final Practice: 11th, 00:59.9972

”Frustrating qualifying session. We had the fastest time of the day, and then a mechanical issue keeps us from the Firestone Fast Six. We can’t seem to catch a break–just really frustrating for the whole crew. We’ll look into it and make the most of race day tomorrow from P11.”

Alexander Rossi, No. 7 VELO Arrow McLaren Chevrolet 

Practice 2: 10th, 00:58.4862

Total Laps: 23

Qualifying:

• Round 1, Group 1: 5th, 00:58.4637
• Round 2: 9th, 00:58.5023

Starting Position: 9th

Final Practice:14th, 01:00.2581

”We’ve been outside the window all weekend. The temperatures have been swinging a lot. We didn’t start in the window, so we’re chasing the car and chasing the temperatures and have been a step behind all weekend. I think the qualifying result is actually a surprise considering how the car feels, so we’re not out of the game. We definitely need a good change here going into tomorrow.”

Gavin Ward, Race Director, Arrow McLaren

“I’m hugely disappointed to have let Felix down with a car issue there. He showed great pace the first round of qualifying. I think he had potential to fight for the front row. We’ll learn from it and get better. All three cars in the top 11 with the way the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is, you can win from there as we’ve seen in recent events. Heads down for the race.”