Malukas posts fastest lap of the race and only driver to break into the 0:59-second lap time
Portland, Ore. (25 August 2024) – Meyer Shank Racing’s (MSR) 150th NTT INDYCAR SERIES start likely won’t have its own chapter in team history books, but the two-car squad bounced back from a tough qualifying session to improve several positions in Sunday’s Bitnile.com Grand Prix of Portland.
Felix Rosenqvist (No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda) kept himself in the hunt for a top-10 finish in the season championship as he came from 18th on the grid to finish 14th in the 110-lap event.
David Malukas (No. 66 AutoNation / Arctic Wolf Honda) started 25th after dropping six positions due to an unapproved engine change and ran strong in the early stints before the need to save fuel and a penalty for exceeding track limits left him to finish 20th.
Malukas was one of the early movers in navigating the 1.964-mile, 12-turn Portland International Raceway after trying an alternate pit strategy early in the race that gave him open track to lay down some fast laps. He climbed to 13th toward the end of the first round of pit stops and turned the fastest lap of the race (the only 59-second lap) before problems in his second stint dropped him back in the order.
Rosenqvist was steady all day, gaining a few stops in the early part of the race and holding serve throughout his three pit stops to stay within shouting distance of the top 10. The Swedish driver finished just six seconds out of that top-10 berth to take the 14th spot at the checkered.
The series heads to the famed Milwaukee Mile oval in West Allis, Wisconsin next weekend for the first time since 2015 for a double-header race weekend.
Meyer Shank Racing Driver Quotes:
Felix Rosenqvist: “Hard-fought P14, that was kind of all that I had. It just hasn’t been an great weekend for us. I feel like we have just been average and our finish lined up with that. It’s crazy now in INDYCAR, if you don’t have the perfect car in the race, you’re not going to really go anywhere. Only left turns from here on out, and we’ve been good on ovals, so let’s move on.”
David Malukas: “A weekend of mistakes and errors. It was another character building weekend. I made the mistake in qualifying which put us in the position to start in the back. We chose a risky strategy to come in early and use a bunch of overtake and jump as many cars as we could and then fuel save the rest of the race, but it didn’t pay out in the end. It’s always a 50/50 gamble in these situations and I still back the team in the decision. I really wanted another good result here with the team, but at least few get to turn left, which those races are normally better for me anyways.”
