CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
SONSIO GRAND PRIX AT ROAD AMERICA
ELKHART LAKE, WISCONSIN
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE RECAP
JUNE 18, 2023

TEAM CHEVY DOUBLE PODIUM AT ROAD AMERICA
Josef Newgarden and Pato O’Ward Finish Second and Third Respectively

• Josef Newgarden, No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet, claimed his third podium of the season including two wins-Texas Motor Speedway and the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500 with a runner-up finish in today’s Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America
• Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren INDYCAR Chevrolet, claimed his fourth podium of the season with a third-place finish in the 55-lap/220.77-mile race on 4.014-mile track
• Today’s finishes are the 12th and 13th podiums of the season for a Chevrolet 2.2 liter V6 powered drivers in the NTT INDYCAR Series, and the 13th podium for a Chevy driver at Road America
• Will Power, No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske Chevrolet, was credited with leading seven of the 55 laps
• In six of the eight races run to-date in 2023, Chevrolet drivers have occupied two steps of the podium including three wins
• Next on the schedule is the INDY 200 at MID-OHIO Sports Car Course June 30 – July 2, 2023

TEAM CHEVY FINISHING POSITIONS:

Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Chevrolet 2nd

Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Chevrolet 3rd

Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Chevrolet 8th

Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Chevrolet 10th

Rinus VeeKay, No, 21 Chevrolet 12th

Will Power, No. 12 Chevrolet 13th

Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 Chevrolet 16th

Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 20 Chevrolet 17th

Callum Illott, No. 77 Chevrolet 18th

Agustin Canapino, No. 78 Chevrolet 19th

Felix Rosenqvist, No. 6 Chevrolet 20th

Benjamin Pedersen, No. 55 Chevrolet 21st

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (QUOTES):

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 PPG TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET:

TALK ABOUT YOUR DAY AND HOW YOU BATTLED

“I mean we definitely had a shot at the win today, but not at the end. I think (Alex) Palou was just better than us in that final stint. So, I think he did a great job, and he is very deserving. In the middle of the race definitely felt like we had an opportunity, and I chose a lane on the restart when we had the off-cycle cars in front of us and I just chose the wrong lane. I chose the wrong lane with Palou, and I lost a couple of spots to Colton (Herta) and Pato (O’Ward) and that just set us up for the end of the race and playing catch up. I felt like if I had made a different choice there, then maybe we would have had an opportunity for the win. But I guess I am happy to be disappointed with second. This was a great recovery drive I think from our team. You know we rolled off pretty bad and we were off the pace and not happy. This team went to work and did a great job with the PPG car and Team Chevy. So, I have to be pretty pleased with second, its just tough when you have an opportunity to win and you just don’t seal the deal.”

GIVEN HOW GOOD YOU HAVE BEEN HERE IN THE PAST, WERE YOU SURPRISED WITH HOW DIFFERENT THINGS ARE WITH THE NEW PAVEMENT?

“Yes and no. We knew it was going to be drastically different than it was in the past and I am a big fan of old pavement tracks. I think the team here has done a tremendous job and the track is in great shape and its super smooth. I think as a team we need to be better on smooth surfaces. It seems like a weakness of ours right now. We were certainly better on the old surface, we just have to figure out what is the ideal package here going forward. But we will work on it, I believe in this team, and we will figure it out.”

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO, 3 SONSIO TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET:

ON YOUR RACE:

“Pretty decent day for the Sonsio Chevy. I finished eighth. It could have been a lot worse, so we made the best of what we had to work with. So we will take that and move on to Mid-Ohio where we won last year.”

CHALLENGES IN TODAY’S RACE ON WORKING YOUR WAY TO THE FRONT:

“I just think it’s very easy to use a lot of push to pass and making sure that you have some available to you. But ultimately it was just like a tire race. Like it was just, be on the right tire at the right time.

“People that were on the reds when there’s heap of those yellows, you know, guys like Dixon and that they just benefit huge. Ultimately, I think we’re probably like top-six today. I think is a really good bounce back, you know. We really found something in the warm-up today and yeah, I think balance-wise the car felt really nice, so I’m happy with that.”

PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN INDYCAR CHEVROLET:

LET’S GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING OF THE RACE AND EVERYTHING YOU HAD GOING ON AND HOW YOU MADE YOUR WAY BACK TO THE PODIUM

“It was a hard-fought race for us, and we were a bit of a ping pong in the beginning, getting hit in turn one and hit in turn two. We got shuffled back and had to give up a couple of positions and then I think we were sitting ninth or something and we just fought our way forward. There was no other thing to do and yeah, I am happy with the result. It was a solid job by the team in the pits and considering where we have ended the last couple of races, this was a really good job.”

YOU HAD TO BE BROUGHT BACK, YOU RAN OUT OF FUEL ON THE COOL DOWN LAP, IS THAT RIGHT?

“Yeah, I might have made it, but I might have not. It was going to be more of a pain to run out of fuel over there by the kink, so I just stopped in turn five.”

NOW THAT MAYBE YOU HAVE GOTTEN SOME MOMENTUM BACK, WHAT DOES THIS DO FOR THE PROGRAM?

“We have been fighting in the top three every single weekend and there hasn’t been one where we haven’t. So, I don’t see that changing and I think we are still going to be in the fight. Obviously, this isn’t ideal for all of us, including ourselves in the championship, but Alex and the Ganassi guys did a fantastic job today. We need to be better.”

THOUGHTS ON THE REPAVE

“I am a big fan of this repave. It’s been a joy to drive this track.”

FELIX ROSENQVIST, NO. 6 ONSEMI ARROW MCLAREN INDYCAR CHEVROLET:

ON HIS RACE:

”It was an eventful race. There were a lot of ups and downs. We got punted off by Rinus Veekay, which was kind of an unnecessary move on his side early in the race. But we did a good job at getting back and we were actually running P7 there before the last pitstop. Then, we have to check exactly what it was, but we had something wrong with the fuel cell. It seems like we didn’t get all the fuel, and we didn’t get full-tank basically. So, we went into panic mode on the last stint to save a ridiculous amount of fuel, and we just felt like a rock through the field. It was unfortunate, but it was actually a pretty damn good race, so we’ll bring that with us and see what went wrong there.”

ALEXANDER ROSSI, NO. 7 ARROW MCLAREN INDYCAR CHEVROLET:

WHAT WERE YOU GUYS BATTLING TODAY THAT LED YOU TO SLIP THERE AT THE END?

“I don’t know, I honestly don’t know. I think the balance was pretty good and I think that….I don’t know. I feel like it’s something to do with a straight-line thing, but I haven’t been able to look at data yet. We had to use a lot of overtake to just keep position, and then at the end it was like other cars had 50 seconds more than us. With the straights here, that is really where we lost most of the spots in the final stint. The car was good so I don’t really have an answer. All through the weekend the Arrow McLaren team did an amazing job, Team Chevy has been fantastic, and I think from the test here we carried a lot of potential into the weekend, but this is the first Sunday where we have really struggled. We will look into it, and it’s not the end of the world, but certainly we are going to have to find an answer for that guy that keeps winning.”

DOES IT MAKE THIS ONE A BIT HARDER TO SWALLOW GIVEN THE OPTOMISM AT THE START OF THE WEEKEND?

“Like I said, the balance was good, and I felt like we were good compared to other cars, we just were getting overtaken a lot. So, I don’t know if it was our trim level, I don’t know if it was gearing, I don’t know if they were just better in those corners than me. Like I said, we will look into it and better understand it. All-in-all we came into this weekend focusing on single lap pace and we determined that we have that sorted out. We just now have to blend Saturdays and Sundays together.”

RYAN HUNTER-REAY, NO. 20 BITNILE.COM ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET:

“All in all, I feel it was a pretty positive day in that we have a direction for the future. We did have some setbacks today, we had to use a set of Firestone primaries that were just off the whole way through. Unfortunately, we had to pit for tires and here at Road America, you need to be pitting for fuel on an empty tank. That set our race on a different path and from there, we had to save a lot of fuel. We could only do what we could do. Moving up 10 spots today was a good start and there were a lot of positives behind the scenes.”

RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 DIRECT SUPPLY ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET:

“Pretty happy! It was a roller coaster race. I got a penalty leaving the pit box, but I had no time to stop or I would have held the other guy up even more. I just stayed flat and hoped for the best. It was a pretty harsh penalty, going all the way to the back. From then on though, we maximized the day. I was P23 and made it all the way back to P12. Quite happy, the car felt good. I could really attack on the restarts and that’s how I moved my way forward. It was a pleasure to drive the Direct Supply car! If we had not had the penalty, we could have had a Top 10 but we maximized what we had, so I am happy. It was a fun race on my favorite track! This is the first time in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES I have had fun race at Road America. It was a pretty good job by Ryan (Hunter-Reay) as well in his first race back! Good day for the team and on to the middle of Ohio!”

CALLUM ILOTT, NO. 77 JUNCOS HOLLINGER RACING CHEVROLET:

“Tough weekend. I haven’t really had the pace all week. But got some good results, had good pit stops and made up a few positions. We got shuffled back a little bit, but it’s a learning weekend with a new pavement and new track. We just quite weren’t, quite on top of it. So after reviewing a little bit, especially for Laguna Seca, it’s probably going to be a very similar principle. At least we’ve got some good points. We can move on to Mid-Ohio which is a bit more familiar for us.”

AGUSTIN CANAPINO, NO. 78 JUNCOS HOLLINGER RACING CHEVROLET:

“To finish 18th was a good for me. Not the beginning, I struggled a lot with the red tires. But after that with the blacks, I’m back in the race. We’re trying hard, and the guys are working hard, and we finished in a good position, taking some points. Just behind of my teammate. I’m happy with my performance. I’m learning a lot race by race. I improving and we want more of course, but it was a good result like good points. I was to the best week of the race. Well, now we will focus on Mid-Ohio.”

2023 CHEVROLET BY THE NUMBERS:

190: NTT INDYCAR SERIES races as V6 engine supplier since 2012 return to INDYCAR.

109: Wins in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES since 2012.

121: Earned poles since 2012.

7: Manufacturer Championships since 2012.

7: Driver/entrant champions since 2012.

12: Indianapolis 500 victories by Chevrolet at Indianapolis Motor Speedway historically

5: Indianapolis 500 wins by Chevrolet since 2012 in the V6 2.2-liter twin turbo direct injected era.

Josef Newgarden

Pato O’Ward

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by podium finishers Josef Newgarden and Pato O’Ward. Josef with his third podium of the season as he remains third in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES points standing. Also joining us Pato O’Ward from Arrow McLaren, fifth in the points standings as well.

Josef, lead us off a little bit. What did you think about this afternoon?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I mean, it was a pretty good day. Yeah, it was an okay day. Disappointing for the way it finished for us just because there was a great opportunity in the middle to win this race.

I think at the end Alex had the field covered. He was very good on that final stint. I don’t think we were going to make anything happen there. In the middle there was a great opportunity, we just didn’t capitalize on it. Got pretty dicey with the restarts.

I’m conflicted because on the one hand it was a great recovery for all of us on Team Penske. We started this weekend in pretty bad shape, were really far off the pace. We chipped away at it, did a lot of work, felt like we got really close in qualifying, had a really good race car.

From that standpoint I’m elated, but just disappointed. Looked like we had an opportunity today and we weren’t really able to seal the deal. It was a great job for our team.

THE MODERATOR: Pato, your thoughts on another podium in 2023.

PATO O’WARD: It was a hard-fought podium for my 5 camp. We were a bit of a ping-pong ball in the start of the race in turn one and turn three, then got shuffled back even more. So, yeah, we had to pass everybody on track.

Obviously happy with the result. But yeah, I think we all need to be better if we want to catch the 10 car. That’s just the reality of it. I think same as Josef, we had a massive opportunity to capitalize and I think to win this race, because I feel like I definitely had the pace. We kind of threw that away in our last pit stop.

Yeah, we’re just going to keep on fighting. We win together, we lose together. That’s how it’s always going to be.

So, yeah, I’m excited for the nine races to come. It’s still a long championship, lots can happen. We just need to keep improving.

THE MODERATOR: You haven’t had a chance to look at some of the numbers. The passing stats are through the roof. Some cars going off. That adds to that. 444 on-track passes in this race. 386 were for position. 110 came in the top 10 today. There were 32 in the top five. All these are smashing the numbers since INDYCAR started recording these numbers in 2016 at Road America.

Speak to the competition of this series, the crazy action that you saw out on the racetrack today.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I mean, it was an unbelievable race. I think as a driver, not always what you want. You want to be just out front, kind of green from start to finish, just an easy day. But if you’re a fan, this is a very difficult race. There was just a lot that happened.

Pato, like he spoke about, people were shuffling forward and backwards. Restarts were bringing different action. The tires were bringing something different for people. It was possible to pass, like very much so. It raced really well.

There was a lot of unknowns going into the new surface on how it would race. I think today, I don’t know how you could have asked for much better of a race. From that standpoint it was more stressful for us. Hopefully the fans really enjoyed the action of it.

THE MODERATOR: Pato?

PATO O’WARD: Yeah, I mean, I agree with that with every race. Like every race, you never know what to expect in INDYCAR. You just don’t.

THE MODERATOR: We’ll start with questions.

Q. Pato, start of the race, green flag, turn one, next thing you know you were hit in the rear. Did you think it was a little early for that?

PATO O’WARD: No. I mean, it’s obviously not ideal. I was just hoping that my attenuator was fine. If they get a bit more under you, your gearbox is kind of done, so that would have been miserable.

But thankfully it wasn’t. I had the chance to fight my way through. I enjoyed. I had fun.

Q. For the two of you, how difficult was it not knowing the way the tires were going to necessarily work? Even talking to your engineers before the race, they weren’t quite sure. They just knew it was almost like everything was upside down tire-wise at this track compared to other tracks.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I mean, there was a lot of unknowns, a lot of questions to answer that. We all had an idea. You don’t know until you really run full stints, have full fuel in the car, everybody is equal.

It was kind of somewhat of a guess. Hopefully we made the right guess. It seemed like everybody had the same idea going into the race. That’s why you saw everybody start on blacks for the most part.

It was a little upside down. The black was just a better tire all around. The red had some potential in the beginning, but it definitely more fade, more degradation.

I think that made it exciting. I mean, the way the tires stacked up, it was very raceable on both compounds. The primary was just a little better today.

Q. The season is not halfway over, but I think the points lead is now 71 for Alex. What is it going to take to have an up-for-grabs race in terms of points standings?

PATO O’WARD: Win races (smiling). If you win nine more races, yeah, you can do it (smiling).

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Probably win by 200 points if you won nine races straight. Yeah, I mean, it’s pretty wide open still.

Q. Josef, if I understood correctly, shortly after the race you said you enjoyed or you liked the old configuration better. When you came here, I think you were informed that there was a new pavement. What did you expect?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Well, I’m biased. I’m an old surface fan anywhere we go. I don’t like new pavement at any track. But it is a different challenge than what you get on an old surface.

I think as a team we’re not excelling on smooth surfaces, particularly something like this. It’s in our control to make it better. As a team, we’ve got to figure out a better formula for our cars with this type of track.

I think this weekend just cemented that for us. We already felt that way at previous tracks. Running through this weekend, the test last week, we definitely confirmed that we have a weakness on these type of surfaces.

We knew that going in. We knew it was going to be new. I love Road America. I still love it just as much as I loved it in the past.

Yeah, if I had to pick my choice, I always like an old track. But that’s a personal opinion.

Q. Next year, more races, more rubber, maybe we are back to the old situation.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Definitely not. The old surface was old. I don’t know how old, but it must have been 15, 20 years.

Q. ’95.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: ’95? Even more. Geez, that’s 27, 30 years.

No, it will take quite a while to get back to what we were in the past. It will set in. I think you put three, four, five years on it, it will start to come back. But it’s just a new style of track.

I think it’s in our control to make better. We as a team are just not good enough on these type of tracks. We have to figure out where our weakness is there.

Q. Josef, you said you could pass today. After yesterday, we would have been surprised if people were talking about going two-wide through five. What happened? Why was passing doable today?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I think a lot of it was the tire. You had degradation in the tire, particularly early in the race. As the track gripped up, that got tougher because you had less deg at the end of the race.

Early on with different compounds, the red was weaker, which gave opportunities. Even on the primaries, they would wear out. That gave people opportunities.

I think just in general, the cadence of the driving and the track with this tire grip, there was still great opportunity to pass people. There was a lot of drag on the car, so you could get runs on people. You could use overtake and it was effective. There’s just a lot of reasons why. Not one thing or another.

We’re definitely going to leave here going, yeah, this place races really well. You can start 15th and pass forward. Doesn’t mean you’re going to win, but you could pass forward today.

PATO O’WARD: Yeah, I think the numbers today show it’s very raceable, a lot of action, yeah.

Q. Pato, how difficult was it to keep Dixon behind towards the end of the race, or was it?

PATO O’WARD: No. I knew if I just didn’t make mistakes, I was going to be fine. I was playing with my fuel numbers. I just kept getting a bigger — no. I kept getting a smaller number each time, so I was able to use even more and more fuel every single lap, like five, six to go.

Yeah, it was all about hitting my marks, not really doing anything too crazy.

Q. Do you spend any time worrying about the gap that Alex has built up or do you put that out of your mind and focus on your own performance?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It’s kind of out of our control. They’ve had a good run up to this point, right? They’ve not had a bad race. I think that’s to be expected.

We had an engine pop on us in the very first round. Everybody has a different story. If you look at their story, they’ve not had one bad race yet. When you have eight races in a row without a bad one, this is what happens points-wise.

What’s going to happen on the final nine, it’s impossible to say. There’s so much season still that he’s got a good cushion at this point, they’ve done a great job, but I don’t think that guarantees anything in INDYCAR.

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations. Appreciate you guys.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Thank you.

PATO O’WARD: Thank you.

About Chevrolet

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ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (Sunday, June 18, 2023) – The juggernaut known as Alex Palou reached top gear Sunday, winning the Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America presented by AMR for his third victory in the last four NTT INDYCAR SERIES races.

Palou drove his No. 10 The American Legion Honda fielded by Chip Ganassi Racing to victory by 4.5610 seconds over Josef Newgarden in the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet. Pato O’Ward finished third in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, his fourth podium finish in eight races this season.

“It’s been an amazing weekend,” Palou said. “I’m super happy. They gave me the pit stop that gave us the win. It was an amazing day for the No. 10 American Legion Ganassi car, and we’re going to keep it going.”

The victory expanded Palou’s lead to 74 points – more than one race worth of points – over teammate Marcus Ericsson in the championship race as the Spaniard aims for another season title to add to his 2021 crown.

This was the seventh career victory for Palou, with wins in the GMR Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear also added to his tally in the last five weeks. Palou’s win also was the 250th victory for Chip Ganassi Racing across all racing disciplines.

CGR also flexed its muscle as the only team with two drivers in the top five at the finish. Six-time series champion Scott Dixon drove from the 23rd starting position to place fourth in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. NTT P1 Award winner Colton Herta finished fifth in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda.

Palou and CGR prevailed this weekend with equal amounts of speed and resiliency forged through winning races and championships. Palou crashed heavily in Turn 14 during practice Saturday morning, giving the Ganassi crew just 90 minutes for repairs before NTT P1 Award qualifying. Palou didn’t skip a beat, qualifying third behind Herta and O’Ward.

“We started with a lot of speed,” Palou said. “Big mistake by my part in practice two. We went back on track, and it (car) was even better than in practice two. We’re going to try and keep it rolling. We have an amazing team behind us.”

Palou lurked near the front the entire race, twice leading for a lap or two as Herta was on a slightly different pit stop cycle. Herta made his final stop on Lap 40 of 55, with Palou pitting for the last time one lap later, both drivers taking Firestone primary (black sidewall) tires.

That one lap between the contenders’ pit stops made a big difference in the outcome. Herta was forced to save fuel over the final 14 laps, with Palou on full power. Palou used that speed advantage to slice Herta’s lead to two-tenths of a second by Lap 45.

Palou then pulled right on Herta’s gearbox, ready to pounce for the lead. The decisive moment came on Lap 49, when Palou passed Herta on the outside in Turn 1 and drove away. It was the last of nine lead changes and one of an event-record 32 passes among the top five in this race.

Newgarden, O’Ward and Dixon were able to catch Herta in the final six laps. But no one could mount any challenge to Palou, who is turning racetracks across North America into his personal asphalt playgrounds lately.

“It’s a frustrating one,” said Herta, who led a race-high 33 of 55 laps. “We had the best car. We were cruising the whole time. I had so much more in it, and we never really got to show it because we were always saving fuel, trying to go that lap later. That’s a killer.”

Palou encountered only one nervous moment after taking the lead for good, narrowly missing the No. 11 Ridgeline Lubricants Honda of CGR teammate Marcus Armstrong as he lapped him in the fastest section of the 14-turn, 4.014-mile circuit on the final lap.

Palou will split $10,000 with Chip Ganassi Racing and his chosen charity, The American Legion, for his victory as part of the PeopleReady Force For Good Challenge. He has won two of the three legs needed to earn a $1 million bonus, with a win on the road courses at IMS and Road America and the street circuit at Detroit. Palou can secure the bonus with a win in any of the three remaining three oval races, a doubleheader July 22-23 at Iowa Speedway and Aug. 27 at World Wide Technology Raceway.

The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES race is The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio presented by the 2023 Accord Hybrid on Sunday, July 2 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course near Columbus, Ohio.

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (Sunday, June 18, 2023) – Nolan Siegel earned his second consecutive victory this season and took the championship lead with a composed drive to the checkered flag Sunday in the INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix at Road America.

Rookie Siegel added his second career victory in the No. 39 HMD Motorsports with DCR car to his win in Round 2 of the Streets of Detroit doubleheader on June 4. It could have been three wins in a row, as Siegel’s car suffered a mechanical breakdown with two turns to go while leading the first race at Detroit.

Siegel, 18, from Palo Alto, California, finished 1.2695 seconds ahead of veteran Jacob Abel, who earned a career-best runner-up result in the No. 51 Abel Motorsports car. Veteran Hunter McElrea finished third in the No. 27 Smart Motors car fielded by Andretti Autosport, his first podium finish of the season.

Reece Gold finished fourth in the No. 10 HMD Motorsports with DCR car, with James Roe rounding out the top five in the No. 29 Topcon machine fielded by Andretti Autosport.

“I’ve now done a few races in this car, and it’s all starting to come together,” Siegel said. “I’m comfortable in the lead now. There’s no stress when we see people catching up, and I think we’ve got the strategy down. Super, super happy with the job everyone did.”

Siegel became the first two-time winner this season in the INDYCAR development series. The win also vaulted Siegel from a two-point deficit to Christian Rasmussen in the standings to a 40-point lead. Rasmussen crashed out on Lap 10 of the 20-lap race, ending up last in the 19-car field in the No. 6 HMD Motorsports with DCR car. He was unhurt in the incident.

“I like that,” Siegel said of seizing the championship lead. “I’d like to keep it like that.”

Siegel, who started fourth, passed teammate Gold for the lead on Lap 8 of the 20-lap race with an outside pass under braking in Turn 5. Abel passed Gold for second in Turn 1 after a Lap 13 restart and pulled to within six-tenths of a second of Siegel with four laps remaining, but Siegel eased away on the final trips around the 14-turn, 4.014-mile circuit.

Gold grabbed the lead after a chaotic first corner of the race. Pole sitter Kyffin Simpson went wide in the inviting Turn 1, with his No. 21 HMD Motorsports with CGR car launching all four wheels into the air after hitting a curb on the exit of the first turn. Simpson slipped to seventh place after the incident and eventually placed eighth.

Siegel climbed to third on the opening lap, behind Gold and fellow rookie Louis Foster in the No. 26 Copart/USF Pro Championship car. Siegel passed Foster for second on Lap 5 and then began to devour the 1.2-second margin to leader Gold over the next three laps.

Rasmussen’s heavy crash in the fast Turn 11 triggered the only caution period of the race, on Lap 10. But Siegel skillfully managed the gap on the Lap 13 restart, getting a great jump on the long, uphill straightaway to the green flag.

The next race is the INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio on Sunday, July 2.

INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix at Road America Race Results

1. (4) Nolan Siegel, 20, Running
2. (6) Jacob Abel, 20, Running
3. (13) Hunter McElrea, 20, Running
4. (3) Reece Gold, 20, Running
5. (10) James Roe, 20, Running
6. (5) Louis Foster, 20, Running
7. (8) Danial Frost, 20, Running
8. (1) Kyffin Simpson, 20, Running
9. (18) Jagger Jones, 20, Running
10. (2) Colin Kaminsky, 20, Running
11. (11) Josh Pierson, 20, Running
12. (15) Ernie Francis Jr., 20, Running
13. (16) Christian Bogle, 20, Running
14. (14) Josh Green, 20, Running
15. (9) Jamie Chadwick, 20, Running
16. (12) Matteo Nannini, 20, Running
17. (17) Enaam Ahmed, 20, Running
18. (19) Rasmus Lindh, 17, Off Course
19. (7) Christian Rasmussen, 9, Contact

Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 118.581 mph
Time of Race: 40:37.2277
Margin of victory: 1.2695 seconds
Cautions: 1 for 3 laps
Lead changes: 1 among 2 drivers

Lap Leaders:
Gold, Reece 1 – 7
Siegel, Nolan 8 – 20

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (Saturday, June 17, 2023) – After stepping over the limit of adhesion more than once earlier Saturday, Colton Herta got a grip on his first NTT INDYCAR SERIES pole in nearly a year.

Herta won the NTT P1 Award for the Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America presented by AMR with a best lap of 1 minute, 40.1945 seconds in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda. He led the Firestone Fast Six despite going off track twice in practice Saturday morning and during the second round of qualifying.

The top lap was nearly 4.7 seconds quicker than the 2022 pole lap of 1:44.8656 set by Alexander Rossi, as the entire 14-turn, 4.014-mile circuit was repaved last fall. But Dario Franchitti’s 23-year-old track record of 1:39.866 barely survived, set in 2000 with a different chassis and engine formula.

“We’ve been working at it the whole time,” Herta said. “This place with the repave is not easy. To have a car that was stable enough to really attack in that last Fast Six was impressive. It’s been way too long this year for us to get a pole, so it’s nice to finally get one.”

This was Herta’s 10th career pole and first since the Honda Indy Toronto in July 2022. He became the sixth different pole winner in eight races this season.

Herta will aim for his first win of the season in the 55-lap race at 1 p.m. ET Sunday (USA Network, Peacock, INDYCAR Radio Network). A 30-minute morning warmup precedes the race at 10:15 a.m. ET Sunday (Peacock, INDYCAR Radio Network).

Pato O’Ward will join Herta on the front row after a best lap of 1:40.3643 in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. It’s O’Ward’s best starting position this season.

Championship leader Alex Palou qualified third at 1:40.4930 in the No. 10 The American Legion Honda after a sensational salvage job by himself and the Chip Ganassi Racing crew. 2021 series champion Palou sideswiped a tire barrier heavily in practice after spinning off track Saturday morning, but the crew rebuilt the car just in time for the start of qualifying.

2023 Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge winner Josef Newgarden qualified fourth at 1:40.9530 in the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet. Alexander Rossi, who led both practice sessions leading into qualifying this weekend, qualified fifth at 1:41.1854 in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.

Kyle Kirkwood will start sixth. He earned a spot in the Firestone Fast Six but didn’t participate after smoke trailed from his No. 27 AutoNation Honda right after the Round of 12 qualifying session ended.

Two multiple series champions will face a long climb to get to the front of the field after neither advanced from the first round of qualifying.

Two-time and reigning series champion Will Power will start a season-low 22nd in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. Six-time series champion Dixon will start 23rd – also a season low – in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

Both Power and Dixon were set on the back foot during a collision in practice Saturday morning that resulted in heavy damage for both machines. Team Penske repaired Power’s damaged car, while Chip Ganassi Racing was forced to a backup car for Dixon.

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (Saturday, June 17, 2023) – Kyffin Simpson earned his first career pole and broke the track record at the INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix at Road America on Saturday.

Chip Ganassi Racing development driver Simpson, from the Cayman Islands, turned a top lap of 1 minute, 49.1028 seconds in the No. 21 HMD Motorsports with CGR car. That time was nearly three seconds quicker than the previous record, 1:52.0034 set by Colton Herta in 2017. The entire 14-turn, 4.014-mile circuit was repaved last fall, hiking speeds dramatically.

Simpson’s previous best starting spot was fourth in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course race.

“It was incredible,” Simpson said. “It was a crazy session. We had a red flag early on, and after that, it was just chaos on track with everyone going by. We had a plan to stick in line as a team, but that kind of went out the window when the Andrettis caught us. It was awesome to be able to get the lap.”

The 20-lap race is scheduled for 11:10 a.m. ET Sunday (Peacock, INDYCAR Radio Network).

Colin Kaminsky qualified a career-best second at 1:49.4151 in the No. 57 Abel Motorsports with Slick Locks car. His previous best start was seventh earlier this month for the second race of the Detroit doubleheader.

Rookie Reece Gold tied his career-best qualifying position by ending up third at 1:49.4828 in the No. 10 HMD Motorsports with DCR car. Fellow rookie Nolan Siegel – two points out of the championship lead – also will start from the second row after qualifying fourth at 1:49.5238 in the No. 39 HMD Motorsports with DCR machine.

Louis Foster is one of four rookies in the top five on the starting grid, fifth at 1:49.5239 in the No. 26 Copart/USF Pro Championship car. Veteran Jacob Abel rounds out row three, qualifying sixth at 1:49.5634 in the No. 51 Abel Motorsports entry.

Championship leader Christian Rasmussen, who has a 178-176 edge over Siegel, qualified seventh at 1:49.5878 in the No. 6 HMD Motorsports with DCR car.

Simpson hung on to the pole during a one-lap shootout created when Matteo Nannini spun into the gravel trap outside Turn 1 with 20 seconds remaining in the session, triggering a red flag. INDYCAR officials allowed the rest of the field to turn one final qualifying lap when the track reopened.

“I was just really hoping that today would be the day that I would finally get my first pole,” Simpson said. “It was, so it’s truly incredible. We weren’t able to improve on that last lap, but no one else did, so that worked out well for us.”

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
SONSIO GRAND PRIX AT ROAD AMERICA
ELKHART LAKE, WISCONSIN
TEAM CHEVY PRACTICE ONE REPORT
JUNE 16, 2023

ALEXANDER ROSSI LEADS PRACTICE ONE AT ROAD AMERICA

• Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Arrow McLaren INDYCAR Chevrolet, set the fastest lap in practice one at Road America for the NTT INDYCAR Series – One Minute, 41.7790 seconds/141.978 mph
• In eight starts, Rossi has one win, one pole and three podium finishes
• Rossi’s Arrow McLaren teammates Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Chevrolet and Felix Rosenquist, No. 6 Chevrolet both posted top-10 times on the newly repaved 4.02-mile, 14-turn natural road course.
• Current NTT INDYCAR Series track record is One Minute, 39.866 seconds set in 2000 by Dario Franchitti
• With new surface, several drivers may set a new mark during Saturday qualifying
• All 27 drivers in this year’s Road America field broke the 2022 pole time of One Minute, 44.8645 set by Rossi

Saturday’s schedule will start with another practice at 9:55 am for one hour. Firestone Fast Six qualifying is scheduled to begin at 12:55 pm. A final warm-up will start race day Sunday at 9:15 a.m. CT. All practice and qualifying will be live on Peacock, INDYCAR Radio and SiriusXM Channel 160. The 55-lap, 220.77-mile race Sunday, June 18 will take the green flag at 12:25 p.m. CT live on USA Network. All times are Central Time.

Press Conference Transcript: Alexander Rossi

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon. Wrapping up day one here at beautiful Road America. We’re currently joined by P1, Alexander Rossi, driving the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. 2019 winner here at Road America and last year’s pole winner as well.

75-minute session. Did you get everything out of that?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: No, I don’t think you ever get everything out of it. I’m so nervous when James is around (smiling).

THE MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, James Hinchcliffe has left the building.

ALEXANDER ROSSI: You never get all you want out of it because usually you’re limited on the amount of tires you have and everything.

It was interesting for us, having tested here last week, to understand the difference in the tire that Firestone brought for this weekend because no one that tested here had the actual tire. Obviously trying the reds for the first time. So it was an interesting session.

Yeah, definitely lots to digest overnight.

THE MODERATOR: We’ll begin with questions.

Q. (No microphone.)

ALEXANDER ROSSI: It’s everywhere, right? With the new surface, there’s more grip. Yeah, I mean, it’s every single corner quite honestly.

Q. (No microphone.)

ALEXANDER ROSSI: Really you don’t do anything different. I think it’s just there’s more potential from the car and the tire, so you have to have probably a higher level of commitment than you did last year.

Last year with the surface, I never thought it was particularly bumpy, but the car slid around on the track quite a bit more than it does now. It’s quite a bit in the track, similar to what Watkins Glen was like when it was repaved, what Barber was like when it was repaved. You feel the car digging in more than you did before. But everyone has that advantage now.

Really your approach is no different whether it was low grip or high grip.

Q. (No microphone.)

ALEXANDER ROSSI: I think we as a group would be pretty disappointed, considering we tested here, if we didn’t roll off the truck pretty strong. I think it’s still early days.

But, yes, certainly the potential is there. It wasn’t a very clean run or laps by me, so I think there’s certainly quite a bit more in it, which is a good sign.

So, yeah, it’s just about really diving into, again, the tire differences because it’s a chunk slower than our pace in testing. So understanding the differences there and making any adjustments to the car to kind of combat that going into tomorrow.

Obviously track evolution is going to continue being a thing, and other cars are going to keep improving, so you can’t stay still, you have to keep improving.

Q. Question about the speed of the reds versus blacks.

ALEXANDER ROSSI: They weren’t faster. I mean, there was areas where they were faster, but a lot of guys didn’t improve. It wasn’t just me. I had fairly clean laps, so it wasn’t like traffic or lock-ups or anything like that. We’ve had it before. Same for everyone.

But it certainly changes I think the strategy going into qualifying a little bit. That being said, I don’t think that the reds are going to continue being slower, but I think it’s certainly going to take an adjustment from what people usually do blacks to reds specifically for this weekend compared to other events that we’ll go to.

Q. Question about track rubbering in.

ALEXANDER ROSSI: Man, I don’t know that I remember last year long enough to know that specific detail (smiling). Yeah, I can’t answer that.

I think as more cars run and everything, that will obviously make the grip level continue to grow. But it’s also very slippery offline, so that’s an interesting thing. I think that’s going to be the most interesting part of the race. Yes, the surface is a much higher grip when it has rubber on it. When there isn’t rubber on it, it’s borderline the same if not lower grip. It will be interesting to see how that offset from offline to online continues to grow.

Q. (No microphone.)

ALEXANDER ROSSI: No. I think it’s probably just really turn one, which obviously was pretty famous when Scott posted the onboard of it. So I don’t know why. Maybe because it’s more grip available than there used to be, you’re carrying more speed, so that kind of jump has more of an effect.

I know the series has tried to resolve that. I don’t know if it will be solvable for this weekend. It’s interesting. Like, they repaved the whole circuit, but they didn’t redo the curbs. That’s kind of cool, but it’s also a little bit strange.

But, yeah, as I said, offline it’s also very slippery. That probably plays into it as well.

Q. Obviously they’ve worked hard to keep the shape of the corners the same. Do any of the corners feel different, how you approach them? Any corners that stand out as being different at all?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: No, no. Not at all. Like I said, it’s just a global grip increase. But, no, I would say all the corners, like the driving styles, the characteristics of it, like turn six is super sketchy going up the crest. I would say it’s all very much the same. Just higher corner speeds.

Q. Do you feel 39 is out of reach, the pole record, or do you think it’s a possibility?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: What is it, a 39.8 or something?

THE MODERATOR: Yes.

ALEXANDER ROSSI: We can do that (smiling).

About Chevrolet

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