CHEVROLET RACING IN THE VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
TOYOTA GRAND PRIX OF LONG BEACH
STREETS OF LONG BEACH
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST RACE QUOTES
APRIL 15, 2018
DRIVER QUOTES:
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 2ND:
YOU WERE RUNNING QUALIFYING LAP SPEEDS AT THE END, ROSSI JUST HAD A LITTLE BIT MORE
“Yeah, they were definitely good early in the stint. But that was absolutely driving just as hard as I could go and I am sure he was driving has hard as he could go. I am sure he was using push to pass and the Hondas are just a little bit better out of the hairpin. On the restarts, I couldn’t get close. I think we had better top end but their drive out of the hairpins was really good. Chevy has done a great job and we have great horsepower this year and its awesome to get the Verizon Chevrolet on the podium this year.”
YOU HAD TWICE AS MANY PUSH TO PASS THERE AT THE END, DID YOU THINK YOU HAD A CHANCE?
“I thought I might have a chance but the thing with this push to pass system is that you can use two or three seconds and really look after it out of each corner. And you can get almost the same benefit of using it all the way down the straight. The big benefit is through the first few gears and that is only three seconds, so yeah, I think they should go back to ten hits only. Then you would see some passing.”
JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 1 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET. FINISHED 7TH:
ON THE RACE:
“Well, I think we had a good day working. Certainly at least a podium, but we kept getting bit by yellows a couple times a day and had to fight our way back from them. It didn’t work in our favor. It is disappointing I think when you look at the speed of our car. I think we had a capable performance of challenging for a podium, but it didn’t work out. Thanks to Verizon and Team Chevy for making some of this happen and all of our other partners. We will just go to Barber and try and have a smooth weekend and try to get back to the top step of the podium.”
TONY KANAAN, NO. 14 ABC SUPPLY TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 8TH:
ON HIS RACE: “Another top 10—that’s what we wanted. The boys have been getting better on the stops and the car was pretty decent all day. We passed a lot of cars. We got caught on that yellow but unfortunately that’s just the way it is. Some days it works in your favor, other days it doesn’t. But I’m pleased. We’re building something really cool here and I’m not talking just about results, I’m talking about through all the struggles we’ve been having, it’s making us as people a lot tighter. Everybody is going to want to come drive for A.J. eventually not just because of the results, but because of the people that we have.”
CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. 23 TRESIBA CARLIN CHEVROLET:
ON YOUR RACE: “I’ve always said there’s no quit in this team. We just keep making progress and it’s nice to finally be able to have a result to show for it. It was awesome to see how hard the team worked to put together a good race car and I can honestly say that the No. 23 Tresiba Chevrolet was the best car I’d had around here. We got a little lucky with yellows, but we’ll take some luck with a new team building our foundation in INDYCAR. A lot of credit to the guys though – they’ve worked so hard since October to make this happen. A top-10 finish is a start and hopefully moving forward we can qualify better so we don’t have to work so hard to get back into the top-10 moving forward.”
MATTEUS LEIST, NO. 4 ABC SUPPLY AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 13TH:
ON THE RACE: “Tough race. In the beginning I thought we didn’t have the pace, I was struggling a little bit but they played the strategy well and we managed to pass some cars [in the hairpin accident]. We restarted in p12, but my tires were gone and the guys behind me were on new reds so it was tough. Anyway, it was the first race we finished on the lead lap so that is good. There are some areas where we need to improve a little bit to be competitive but we’re going to get there. I’m happy for the team and onto the next one. We’ll see how Barber goes.”
SPENCER PIGOT, NO. 21 PREFERRED FREEZER ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 15TH:
ON THE RACE: “That was a disappointing race. Pretty much from the first stint, we were having gearbox issues. It got a lot worse at certain points of the race which ruined our day. We never really got a shot to fight for any positions or move up through the field. The Preferred Freezer Services guys worked hard this weekend and we made some good improvements over the three days, but we came away with not much to show for it. Disappointing, but hopefully we can turn it around at Barber.”
KYLE KAISER, NO. 32 JUNCOS RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 16TH:
ON RACE: “Overall I am happy with where we ended up in the race. There were a couple of mistakes on my part. I had a problem coming out of the pits and had to serve a drive through (penalty). Then I locked it up going into Turn-1 halfway through the race and we lost a lap doing that. We still managed to finish 16th and move up eight spots. We had really good pace through the race and I know we had a really good race car. I can’t thank the team enough and I cannot thank the guys enough for all of their hard work after qualifying and putting together a good race car. I am really excited for the next race because I know we have a great thing going here and we are just getting better and better every time we get back in the car. Hats off to the team, I’m having a lot of fun racing in the Verizon IndyCar Series.”
MAX CHILTON, NO. 59 GALLAGHER CARLIN CHEVROLET, FINISHED 17th:
ON THE RACE:
“Unfortunately, the strategy just didn’t work out in our favor today. We qualified well and the team gave me a good race car in the No. 59 Gallagher Chevrolet, but we just went the wrong way on a few strategy elements. Even though this isn’t where we wanted to be results-wise after our qualifying and warm-up efforts yesterday and today, I’m still proud of how much we were able to progress throughout the weekend. Now that we have another race weekend under our belts, we’ll be working hard to use what we learned and put everything together heading into Barber.”
JORDAN KING, NO. 20 FUZZY’S VODKA ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 18TH:
ON HIS RACE: “I’m obviously really gutted. You can see where we were racing, we were definitely on for a podium. We can’t control a mechanical failure like we had, so it was out of our hands I suppose. It is just annoying that we could have been on the podium and got nothing from today.”
GABBY CHAVES, NO. 88 HARDING GROUP HARDING RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 19TH:
ON THE RACE
“It was a tough day and a tough weekend for us. I think that we did not have the pace to be a top-five car, but we did have the right strategy to be a top-five finisher. It is just unfortunate that the guys we were racing around that were on the same strategy got into those top-five positions. We had a fueling issue in the pits again and lost three or four laps. Now we regroup and figure out how to avoid those mistakes from now on and go from there.”
SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 DXC TECHNOLOGY TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 24TH: – received contact in a turn one, lap one that damaged car. Because car didn’t return to either pit lane or paddock, team was unable to make repairs for the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series champion to return to competition:
WHAT WAS YOUR TAKE ON THE CONTACT WITH THE NO. 15?
“I don’t know, I will have to review the video but felt like he never broke. It’s a real shame and the shame is that the car is totally repairable. We just need to change the front wing and some suspension parts and we can go back out. It could be very costly in the championship and it’s a shame because we had a really good DXC Technology Chevrolet this weekend. I don’t know what else we could have done. So it’s on to the next one.”
A DRIVE THROUGH PENALTY FOR GRAHAM RAHAL, DOES THE PENALTY FIT THE CRIME YOU THINK? “Well, my race is done and I didn’t even make one corner. I had a car to win the race today, so I don’t think anything is going to solve my pain or the team’s pain – so it is what it is.”
TERRIBLE DAY:
“Yes, terrible day. We didn’t even make one corner. We had a really great start. (Alexander) Rossi (pole sitter) blocked the run so I went to the outside but we were at a good braking point but were going to be three wide. I was three—wide outside. It’s not like I went on the brake early; (Graham) Rahal just forgot to brake. Really a shame. We had such a competitive car and I felt confident all weekend.
“I feel bad for all the DXC people who are here. The biggest shame is we could repair the car and go back on track to gather valuable points for the championship. But the decision from IndyCar (the No. 22 DXC Technology Chevrolet not returned to the paddock area) I don’t understand is very costly to me today.”
Connect with Team Chevy on social media. Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TeamChevy<https://www.facebook.com/TeamChevy>,follow us on Twitter @TeamChevy<https://twitter.com/TeamChevy>, and follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/teamchevy/?hl=en
About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is one of the world’s largest car brands, doing business in more than 100 countries and selling more than 4.0 million cars and trucks a year. Chevrolet provides customers with fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.
