Solid qualifying for PREMA Racing in St Louis
PREMA Racing’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES drivers Callum Ilott and Robert Shwartzman completed a clean qualifying session on the first short oval of the season, securing 16th and 24th for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500.
The weekend got off to a delayed start, as inclement weather meant sessions had to be pushed to later in the day.
Multiple yellow flags disrupted the opening practice session, but both Ilott and Shwartzman were able to get up to speed with the 2.01-kilometre oval course ahead of qualifying.
With the order of qualifying determined by the reverse points standings, the two PREMA Racing drivers were second and third to take to the track for their qualifying attempt.
Ilott was the first of the two PREMA Racing drivers, and he produced a solid run with a two-lap average speed of 176.758 mph. This saw him fastest after the first group of seven qualifiers.
Team-mate Shwartzman followed and showed good consistency across his qualifying run setting an average speed of 174.265 mph across his two laps of the short oval. After the first group he sat in sixth.
At the halfway point in the session, Ilott and Shwartzman sat third and 11th respectively on the leaderboard. As the remaining drivers made their attempts, qualifying concluded with Ilott matching his season’s best qualifying result of 16th and Shwartzman in 24th.
The team will now have the high-line and final practice session this evening beginning at 20:15 Eastern time (CET -6) before final preparations are made overnight ahead of the 260-lap race under the lights at 20:20 Eastern time.
#83 ROBERT SHWARTZMAN
“It was not the qualifying that we had hoped for in my first short oval experience. It’s quite different from the Indy 500, and for me I would have loved to have had a bit more practice time to get more confident and comfortable with the car and to also work with my engineer to improve the car. It was quite a tricky car to drive, so we definitely have some work to do and analysis to come up with in the final practice session later ahead of tomorrow’s race.”
Qualifying: P24
Starting position Race: P24
2 Lap Average speed: 174.265 mph
Qualifying time: 51.6456
#90 CALLUM ILOTT
“It was a pretty strong qualifying today. The first lap was really good and I just didn’t put it together as much in the second lap which lowered the average a little bit. I’m happy with how things turned out and it sets us up well for the race tomorrow. For our first short oval, the car has rolled of the track pretty well.”
Qualifying: P16
Starting position Race: P16
2 Lap Average speed: 176.758 mph
Qualifying time: 50.9170
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