After suffering a poor finish in the season opener at St. Petersburg two weeks ago, Marco Andretti is trying to rebound this weekend in Long Beach. So far this weekend, Andretti is off to a solid start as he qualified eighth for Sunday’s Toyota Grand Prix at Long Beach.
Andretti wasn’t as strong in practice as his teammates Ryan Hunter-Reay and James Hinchcliffe, which resulted in multiple adjustments before qualifying.
“We tried a new set up, so I was sort of still learning it in qualifying – which has been a trend for us,” Andretti commented post-qualifying. “We need to run the car that I’m going to qualifying during practice three so I know what I’m jumping in to qualify with. Today we could have run less fuel and made it in (the Firestone Fast Six). But it’s still 100% doable from eighth for the Snapple team.”
Andretti historically isn’t known for being strong on the street courses. However, Andretti spent the 2012-2013 off-season with a driver coach, learning how to become better and improve. It showed its hand last year as Andretti was better across the board. Andretti started 25th in last year’s event, though was able to work his way up to finish seventh overall. Certainly starting 17 spots better this year should help his chances at taking home the victory.
“This is on my wish list,” Andretti commented. “This is a big race for me, probably second to Indianapolis that I want to win. My dad and I were talking about it on the way here how cool it would be to have three generations win at one track. Definitely not pleased with my Long Beach record so far.”
Before last year, Andretti had a pair of finishes outside of the top 20 due to issues. If Andretti can keep his No. 25 Snapple Honda out of trouble and run some solid laps, though, there’s a solid chance that he could find himself on the podium – or at least in the top five.
