CHEVROLET QUALIFIES FOUR IN THE TOP-FIVE FOR NTT INDYCAR SERIES’ $1 MILLION CHALLENGE HEAT 1
- Chevrolet saw four drivers finish in the top-five of qualifying’s Group 1, with Scott McLaughlin, driver of the XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet, leading the Bowtie brigade in second with his fastest lap of 01:38.6068 seconds.
- Alexander Rossi, driver of the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, led Team Chevy in Group 2 in seventh with his fastest lap of 01:39.1140 seconds after a mid-session caution shook up strategy.
- Ahead of Sunday’s heat races and main event, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES completed four test sessions with Callum Ilott, driver of the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, topping the charts with his fastest lap of 01:38.7784 seconds in Test Session 3.
- In the fourth open test Saturday afternoon, Chevrolet occupied the first two or three positions for most of the session, finishing with four teams in the top-five, and seven in the top-10.
- Sunday’s $1 Million Challenge from The Thermal Club airs live at 12:30 p.m. ET on NBC, with additional broadcast coverage on Peacock, INDYCAR Radio, and SiriusXM Channel 160.
TEAM CHEVY GROUP 1 QUALIFYING RESULTS, HEAT RACE 1 LINEUP:
2nd Scott McLaughlin
3rd Rinus VeeKay
5th Josef Newgarden
6th Will Power
7th Romain Grosjean
8th Agustin Canapino
10th Santino Ferrucci
14th Sting Ray Robb
TEAM CHEVY GROUP 2 QUALIFYING RESULTS, HEAT RACE 2 LINEUP:
7th Alexander Rossi
8th Callum Ilott
9th Pato O’Ward
11th Christian Rasmussen
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (Quotes):
Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Chevrolet at Team Penske:
“I feel solid in race running. It’s a tricky surface. There’s definitely going to be drop off and tire wear, but I think we’re looking after the tires super well so I’m excited for race running. Got to stay out of trouble to start, and then I think our longevity should prove to be pretty competitive. Proud of the Hitachi Chevrolet crew. It’s been fun testing here and getting through a list of items and seeing if we can win some money tomorrow.”
A pretty strong start to the season with Chevrolet, a pretty strong package…
“Chevy’s done a great job. They continue to bring us great performance on the weekend. Excited to get through tomorrow, but also really excited to get back to Long Beach as well and keep proving our worth.”
Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Chevrolet at Team Penske:
“I’m hell bent. To have a qualifying session which was just bang, bang, bang in a shootout lap, one lap, is pretty awesome and that’s effectively what that was. To do a good job there was good. Congrats to Felix (Rosenqvist). I feel like I could have had him. I just marked up that last corner, but that’s… You’ve got to do the lap, it’s pressure, and that’s cool.”
You’ve got to get it right on the push-to-pass lap…
“Exactly. I think that’d be really cool, but I think our XPEL Chevy was great. Obviously, Chevy has been giving us great power this year and fuel mileage so really stoked for everyone there, and hopefully we can keep this XPEL Chevy up front.”
So what do you expect for the heat race tomorrow? How do you approach that?
“We’ll do what we can. Every race, we go out and try to win it. It’s a learning process too. We’ll figure out what the car does even more so over ten laps, but yeah, I’ll be doing my best to at least get ahead of Felix (Rosenqvist). It’s going to be interesting where we’ll shake up at the end of ten laps.”
Will Power, No. 12 Chevrolet at Team Penske:
“Because you have push-to-pass, it’s just one lap and big (degradation). It’s very difficult to wait two hours, then have a different condition and just go. It’s tough.”
Did you know what the track was going to be like?
“I did. I tried a couple of different things and made mistakes. I mean, honestly, the quickest time was a quick time. It was hard to put all of that together. For (Felix) Rosenqvist to be P1 is solid.”
How do you think the heat races will play out?
“It just depends on what you want to do. I don’t feel like doing much damage for P6 or something. It’s such a short race, anything can happen.”
With all of the test sessions, do you feel as a group it was worth it? You were able to try a bunch of different stuff.
“I think the whole qualifying and racing made you not try stuff. You were doing these qualifying sims because you knew the only way you’ll do well in these things is qualifying up front.”
Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren:
“This track is very sensitive to heat, wind. It was getting really gusty, especially there in the back over by the esses. There was a lot of sand on track. You could see it from the rooster tails coming out of the cars. As it was for us, it wasn’t the most perfect lap for me, but I just could never get the car to set. It was always wanting to go the opposite direction of where I wanted it to go. It was a bit of a fight out there, but it seems like we’re not the only ones. A lot of guys are struggling with it, and it’s just really, really gusty and feels icy out there.”
Do you remember a weekend like this where it’s different to run all the time?
“Not in INDYCAR, but in a Formula 1 test, yes. Those cars are really, really wind sensitive and I feel like we’re getting a taste of that here. Maybe in Indy, where you’re going so fast and the wind is a bit more of a factor. It’s definitely shifted a lot. You think you have a good car, and then you’re going into it and what happened to the balance? Not that if felt horrible, but it just never actually got into, I feel like, an operating window. I feel the tires never got to their sweet spot, and this qualifying session that we’ve with overtake, you’ve got one lap to do it. Once you choose your lap, you’ve got to stick with it. I’m glad that we tried in Lap 2, I think Callum (Ilott) did as well. But it seems that we’re not the only ones that are struggling.”
Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:
“It’s interesting. Just like this whole weekend, right? It’s different. You’ve got the push-to-pass too, which usually you can focus on one thing, but now we’re pressing a button on the top of the steering wheel. It felt really good. One thing about this track, with the wind and basically a sandstorm that came through, every session, maybe every outing, the car felt different. We just kind of nailed it for the conditions the way they were. A little bit surprised. Didn’t feel as good as in practice, but very, very happy and great job by the guys.”
What will be the biggest key tomorrow? Will it be aggressiveness? Conservative?
“Staying on track. I think that’s my thing. You only have to lead one lap and that’s the last one. First got to make it through to the all-star race and then to the $1 Million Challenge, and then we look forward there. This starting position definitely makes tomorrow a little bit easier.
If you’re second with $500,000 on the line, are you willing to move someone to win?
“If I’m close enough and I see a gap, I’ll definitely go for it.”
Romain Grosjean, No. 77 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:
“We knew qualifying was going to be a challenge. Very tricky conditions out there. I made a small mistake in our lap that cost us, but we are up there in the mix, so a lot of potential in the car.”
Agustin Canapino, No. 78 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:
“We are in a good position. Honestly, the lap wasn’t good. We didn’t find the speed in the fastest corner, and we need to check what happened. But the good thing is we are in a good position for tomorrow to try and make it to the main race.”
From that kind of position, you know you need to pick up a couple of spots. What is the approach in this short heat race tomorrow?
“I think the target is try to end better. Of course, we are starting P8 alongside my teammate Romain (Grosjean). We need to only need to advance two positions. It will be difficult of course. Many good drivers and top teams, but we had a good car, especially in practice. We were much better. For some reason, my car wasn’t good in qualifying again on the faster corners, but I think we can find some speed for tomorrow.”
What have you learned this weekend that will help you moving forward this season?
“Oh, a lot. I remember this same moment, same place, last year, and I was completely lost. Completely, completely lost. I made a big improvement during my first year. I need more practice, more experience, especially with the new tires, but we are in a good situation. The team has improved a lot, especially with Romain (Grosjean). We are in a good situation. You can see that with the guys we have now behind us.”
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