CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
FIRESTONE GRAND PRIX OF MONTEREY
WEATHERTECH RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA
SALINAS, CALIFORNIA
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING REPORT
SEPTEMBER 9,2023
FELIX ROSENQVIST PUTS CHEVY ON THE POLE FOR LAST RACE OF 2023 NTT INDYCAR SEASON AT LAGUNA SECA
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN QUALIFIED SECOND MAKING ALL CHEVROLET FRONT ROW
· With a lap of 1 minute: 06.6416 seconds/129.897 mph, Felix Rosenqvist powered his No. 6 Arrow McLaren NTT Chevrolet to the pole for Firestone GP of Monterey
o His NTT P1 Award winning lap around the newly repaved Weather Tech Raceway Laguna Seca was 4.9 seconds faster than the 2022 event
o It is second pole of 2023 for Rosenqvist, and the fifth of his career
· Scott McLaughlin will start alongside Rosenqvist in the No.3 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet
o This is the eighth front row starting position for McLaughin in 2023
MONTEREY, CALIF (September 9, 2023) – The newly re-paved 2.2-mile
Weather Tech Raceway proved to be an exciting challenge with in the testing and practicing sessions leading up qualifying for the 95-lap race./
The change in the surface didn’t seem to bother Felix Rosenqvist at all. He neatly navigated the course to post a record-setting time of 06.6416 seconds/129.897 mph as the next to the last car to take the checkered flag concluding the Fast Six.
The last car to finish was Scott McLaughlin who was equally as quick, but he had to settle for 1minute:06.653 seconds 120.88 mph to make it an all Chevrolet front row.
Chevrolet remains in the thick of the battle for the Series’ Manufacturer Championship heading into tomorrow’s race just 15 points down to our competition.
Sunday’s 95-lap, 212.61-mile race takes the green flag live on NBC at 3 p.m. ET. All practice and qualifying will be live on Peacock, INDYCAR Radio, and SiriusXM Channel 160.
OTHER CHEVY FINISHERS
4TH Josef Newgarden
8TH Rinus VeeKay
9TH Will Power
11th Santino Ferrucci
12th Pato O’Ward
13th Agustin Canapino
CHEVROLET AT LAGUNA SECA (V6 era), since INDYCAR’s 2019 return:
· Wins: 0
· Pole Awards: 1
§ 2018: Will Power
· Podiums at Laguna Seca by Team Chevy: 3, since the 2019 return to Laguna Seca
· Laps Led at Laguna Seca by Team Chevy: 35 laps led since the 2019 return to Laguna Seca
WHAT THEY ARE SAYINGS:
Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:
“Not the best qualifying for us. It was probably one of our worst all year. I’m not sure what made the balance shift so much in Q2 versus Q1 for me. I just couldn’t extract the lap time. But I’m happy for the team with Felix’s pole. Tomorrow we’ll have three cars with pace starting in three parts of the field, the front, middle and rear. We’re going to give it everything we have to finish our season strong.”
Felix Rosenqvist, No. 6 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:
“That was a killer lap. I had to wrestle my way to it, and there were some sketchy moments, but that made it so much more special. A big thanks to my Arrow McLaren crew, NTT DATA and Team Chevrolet. Tomorrow will be our last race together, so this is an awesome way to get that going. Track position is super important here, so we’ve given ourselves a great opportunity for a positive race.”
Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:
“The car was great. There wasn’t much more we could do there once a red flag comes out and takes it away from you. It was the best car we’ve had through the weekend so to not break out of Round 1 is really disappointing. Colton Herta and I have had probably the strongest cars all weekend, and we’re starting in the back half of the field. It’s a shame, but I’m really happy for Felix on pole.”
Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 EXPEL Chevrolet at Team Penske:
“Really good day for the XPEL Chevrolet. That’s another front row for us. We’re killing those. Just barely missing the poles which is unfortunate. We’ve had a few where we’ve been barely close. Bummed for this one because this XPEL Chevrolet was really fast. We’ll just try to make the right decisions tomorrow and make good strategy choices, and hopefully find ourselves at the end of the race in Victory Lane.”
Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 20 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:
“We made some good gains yesterday, but I haven’t been able to find the grip and predictability I need from the No. 20 BITNILE.COM Chevrolet yet. Unfortunately in qualifying, I just dropped the right rear into a little bit of sand and the car turned around and then stalled. We’ll start near the back, but hopefully go have a good race and move forward.”
Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:
“I would have been more satisfied with a Fast 6 experience! We have had really good pace in practice so I would have loved to have done a little bit better. I just couldn’t get it 100% right. Starting 7th is decent and I think we are one of the fastest cars out there, especially on old tires. I am confident that we can do well in the race and move up some positions!”
Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:
“It’s honestly been a great week so far to start. Obviously we qualified P11 after a motor change, no install, really rushing and pushing is really impressive from the team’s side and yeah just kind of rewarding to qualify 11th. Probably could have gotten to tenth or ninth if I had just put in the perfect lap but we still have got to work away at it. We’re still missing something on the reds, but we definitely learned something from session one to session two from the team side. But we’ll see what we can do from the race starting 17th.
“I think we’re better on the primary tires so that’s probably where we’ll live. It’s hard to pass so you’re kind of banking on people to make mistakes. It’s also the final race of the season so for sure, people are going to crash trying to pass. Just have to stay clean and try and bring home a top 10 or top 15. If we’re lucky and play our cards right, a top 10.”
Benjamin Pedersen, No. 55 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:
“We’ll be rolling off P23. We lost a bit of relative pace compared to practice so we’re going to look into that as to why that was. But both cars will be starting pretty close to each other so looking to finish the year as strong as possible and go forward. It looks like it’s pretty challenging to pass so it will be interesting with strategy what we can come up with, but we’ll be definitely giving it everything we have tomorrow to finish the season strong.
(asked Why is it so hard to pass?)
“I think it’s the nature of the track especially now with the new pavement and how much faster the cars are going. That makes it even harder to follow closely so I think it will be really interesting. I don’t think the tire deg is going to be bad either so I think for everyone its going to be a matter of not making any mistakes in the race.”
Callum Ilott, No. 77 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:
“It was a pretty interesting day. I think we had a bit more potential than we showed. It was a bit of a messy day. There’s a lot of, a lot on the track, guys running off the track and bringing it on. Just massive, massive. Trying to get the best I could unfortunately that was the 20 overall, so not so great, especially over the last year, the speed we had here. But yeah, tomorrow’s a new day. They should be good to get everything right and try and move forward. But yeah, we’ve we’ve got a new car, I think has been on the block so far today has been good. Just to get a bit more out of it.”
Agustin Canapino, No. 78 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:
“Really Happy. Our best qualification. P7 in his group, 13th for the race. Unfortunately I have to take a penalty and start 19th. Only four tenths off for my first time at Laguna Seca. Really proud of my team. Thanks to everyone for their hard work. Tomorrow we will go for our best result of the years, and why not rookie-of-the-year.”
