Arrow McLaren 2023 Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey Practice Report

WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca

Practice date: Friday, September 8

Round: 17/17

Total laps: 95 Laps

Total race distance: 212.6 miles/342.2 km

Length: 2.24 miles/3.60 km

Number of turns: 11

Session start times:

• Practice 2: Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. PT
• Qualifying: Saturday, 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. PT
• Warm-Up: Sunday, 9:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. PT
• Green Flag: Sunday, 12:26 p.m. PT

TUNE IN: Sunday, 11:30 a.m. PT on NBC

Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet

Practice 1: 2nd, 01:07.5911

Total Laps: 33

“I’m super happy with Friday’s session. The overnight changes that we made from the test were very positive. The track is going to keep gripping up, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow. It’s going to be a physical race, probably the most physical all season. I’m not sure what our strategy will be yet, but it’s going to be a really great fight.”

Alexander Rossi, No. 7 VELO Arrow McLaren Chevrolet 

Practice 1: 3rd, 01:07.6336

Total Laps: 28

“The car carried over from yesterday, but the track was certainly different. It’s competitive. The Firestone Reds are a bit of a mystery, and I think that will be the case for everyone because nobody seemed to get a run on them. It was hard to get a run in with the red flags. That will be a curveball tomorrow, but we’re in a good spot right now.”

Felix Rosenqvist, No. 6 NTT DATA Arrow McLaren Chevrolet 

Practice 1: 19th, 01:08.2470

Total Laps: 25

“I didn’t really get a lap in. There were a lot of red flags. I didn’t get a lap on Firestone Blacks, didn’t get one on Firestone Reds. Actually, I don’t think we completed a full lap on Reds. Luckily I think Alexander and Pato got some good laps in on the Blacks, so we have some good information in the team. Our car is quick, too, so it should be good.”

Gavin Ward, Racing Director, Arrow McLaren

“A tough one to judge out there today due to all the red flags. We only got a few full laps across all three cars, so we’ll have to work with what we’ve got. We like the pace we’ve got so far, so we’ll aim to keep that up and push hard tomorrow for qualifying.”