CHEVROLET IN THE NTT INDYCAR SERIES
2023 GMR GRAND PRIX
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY ROAD COURSE
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE RECAP
MAY 13, 2023
PATO O’WARD AND ALEXANDER ROSSI PUT CHEVROLET ON THE PODIUM AT INDIANAPOLIS ROAD COURSE
Arrow McLaren INDYCAR Finishes All Three Entries In Top-Five
- Arrow McLaren INDYCAR’s Pato O’Ward (second) and Alexander Rossi (third) give Chevrolet their 290th and 291st podium finishes in the 2.2-liter V6 twin turbo injection era (since 2012), the sixth and seventh of the 2023 NTT INDYCAR Series season.
- Arrow McLaren INDYCAR teammate Felix Rosenqvist finished in the top-five, giving Arrow McLaren INDYCAR a strong finish and start to the month of May.
- Arrow McLaren INDYCAR’s Alexander Rossi led the morning GMR Grand Prix Warm Up for Team Chevy, finishing the session second with his fastest lap of 01:10.4153. Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin finished seventh, and teammate Josef Newgarden finished eighth.
INDIANAPOLIS (May 13, 2023) – As the checkered flag dropped on the 2023 GMR Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course, Arrow McLaren INDYCAR’s Pato O’Ward and Alexander Rossi concluded a physically challenging and hot race to give Chevrolet their 290th and 291st podium finishes as a V6 engine supplier since the 2012 return to the NTT INDYCAR Series.
Earning the sixth and seventh podium of the 2023 season, O’Ward and Rossi were joined in the top-five by teammate Felix Rosenqvist, giving the Arrow McLaren INDYCAR team a strong start to the month of May at Indianapolis and momentum heading into the shift to the oval next week.
“We’ve always been really strong on Sundays,” said Rossi. “We just haven’t really gotten the results we deserve for the performance of the car. But the fact that McLaren got three cars in the top-five in this field, and this competition, that’s a huge testament to the organization and what we have going on here. It’s a big confidence boost in good momentum going into the most important race of the year.”
“For us, I mean, we were two, three and five as a team, that’s pretty freaking phenomenal,” reflected O’Ward. “The guys gave us a great race car. We were kind of just running our own race today. We were there fighting with (Christian) Lundgaard between all of us teammates. Once I got in front of him, I just had to try and minimize the gap I had with Alex (Palou), but I just think they were very strong today.”
“Overall, I’m really happy for the team,” stated Rosenqvist. “Top-five for all of us. That’s insanely good. That’s a very rare result in INDYCAR these days, so a big congrats to the whole team. Personally, I wasn’t certainly super happy with that race when we had some sense, but we lost a bit too much on the final lap in the sequence on the reds, and too much (degradation). Otherwise, apart from that, it was a pretty good race.”
Up next for Team Chevy is the prestigious month of May, shifting focus to the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval with practice starting Tuesday, May 16, 2023. The 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge takes the green flag live on NBC starting at 11 a.m. ET on NBC Sunday, May 28, 2023.
TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
2nd Pato O’Ward
3rd Alexander Rossi
5th Felix Rosenqvist
7th Josef Newgarden
2023 CHEVROLET BY THE NUMBERS:
291: NTT INDYCAR SERIES podiums as a V6 engine supplier since 2012 return to INDYCAR.
187: NTT INDYCAR SERIES races as V6 engine supplier since 2012 return to INDYCAR.
108: Wins in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES since 2012.
121: Earned poles since 2012.
7: NTT INDYCAR SERIES by Chevrolet drivers in 2023 so far.
7: Manufacturer Championships since 2012.
7: Driver/entrant champions since 2012.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING (QUOTES):
Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Chevrolet at Team Penske:
“We unfortunately had a slow final stop. I think we had a slow plug in. I think we lost seven or eight seconds just trying to get that right. I think today was a third-place day. If we get the final stop all good, that’s probably where we land and we ended up seventh. It’s kind of been the story of the year, just not great timing on some of this stuff. Not a bad day. I told the team this was a good fighting day. Great fighting day with the Snap On car. Team Chevy did a fantastic job. I would have been really pleased if we left with a third but we’ll take the seventh and roll in to the big show and hopefully have a really, really good day.”
CONSIDERING YOUR TEAM OWNER OWNING THE SPEEDWAY, DO YOU NEED A REMINDER HOW IMPORTANT THE NEXT TWO WEEKS ARE?
“Oh no. We all know it. But it’s important to all of us. The pressure is always there. We want to do well. I want to do well as anybody, just as much as (Roger Penske) does. We’re ready. We’re as ready as we can be. Hopefully we can get it right.”
Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Chevrolet at Team Penske:
“Obviously a little frustrated at how we qualified with the Odyssey Battery Chevrolet. After practice I thought we should challenge for the Firestone Fast Six. Then, after warmup, I thought we were better and starting on the red tires would give us a chance to make up a few positions over the start of the race. The first corner of this race is always a bit chaotic and it caught us today with some front wing damage that we had to come in and repair. Immediately that changes our strategy but we fought back and looked to be in a position for a top 10, which would have been acceptable considering. We’ll have to go back and look at why we got so low on fuel. Luckily the light came on in time for me to hit pit road and take on one gallon to make it to the end. Frustrating but we need to forget this result and focus on the 500.”
Will Power, No. 12 Chevrolet at Team Penske:
“It was good recovery. I mean, real pity about that incident to get spun out. Persona attack the rest of the day; but happy to get back to 12th. Now we move on to the big one.”
Conor Daly, No. 20 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:
“Today seemed a bit odd. We made a lot of progress at the start and seemed like we were moving forward. I am not sure how the strategies ended up playing out so we didn’t end up moving forward as much as we wanted. We lost a lot of tire grip at the end, but we tried to make the best out of the situation and pass a lot of cars. It just didn’t seem to fall our way. I can’t wait to get to the oval and keep that good momentum that I have had here before going.”
Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:
“It was a pretty good race, but quite tough. We were just short on pace, but in every on-track battle I found myself in I was able to get the better spot. I did everything I could today and we were able to move up to 13th from 17th. Brought the No. 21 BITNILE.COM Chevrolet home clean, picked up some points and now am looking forward to the Indianapolis 500.”
Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:
“For us, I mean, we were two, three and five as a team. That’s pretty freaking phenomenal. The guys gave us a great race car. We were kind of just running our own race today. We were there fighting with (Christian) Lundgaard between all of us teammates. Once I got in front of him, I just had to try and minimize the gap I had with Alex (Palou), but I just think they were very strong today. We were just kind of hanging on there in the end trying not to destroy our reds and bring it home, bring some solid points.”
ON RACING IN THE HEAT WITH THE HUMIDITY AND THE AEROSCREEN, HOW ARE YOU FEELING WITH A RACE THAT MOSTLY WENT GREEN?
“Obviously, it’s one of the toughest races we have year-round, but I don’t spend all those hours in the gym to be struggling. I feel great.”
IT’S HARD NOT TO THINK ABOUT THE INDIANAPOLIS 500, HOW SOON TO YOU SHIFT WITH THE ROAD COURSE TO THINK OF TUESDAY AND THE INDY 500?
“Our 500 started weeks ago at the Open Test, so we come back on Tuesday, and we want to make it better. We want to make it the best we can, and come race day, we’ll try and give ourselves that opportunity once again and see where we stack up.”
Felix Rosenqvist, No. 6 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:
“Overall, I’m really happy for the team. Top-five for all of us. That’s insanely good. That’s a very rare result in INDYCAR these days, so a big congrats to the whole team. Personally, I wasn’t certainly super happy with that race when we had some sense, but we lost a bit too much on the final lap in the sequence on the reds, and too much (degradation). Otherwise, apart from that, it was a pretty good race. I think me and (Alexander Rossi) passed each other six times our there, so I wasn’t generally quick in the beginning. It was quicker at the end of the stint, and I think that’s where it got him the podium in the end. Pato (O’Ward) did a solid sequence in the middle of the race as well, which leaped him up to the front. It was good. I mean, these days are rare, but you can always be better.”
Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:
“We’ve always been really strong on Sundays. We just haven’t really gotten the results we deserve for the performance of the car. But the fact that McLaren got three cars in the top-five in this field, and this competition, that’s a huge testament to the organization and what we have going on here. It’s a big confidence boost in good momentum going into the most important race of the year.
I think we’ve been there every race. Like I said, we’ve been there on Sundays all year. You know, we were we were we had a good day going in Texas. We were a lap away from finishing the top six in Long Beach. It’s just we haven’t quite executed completely. But you know, the pace in the car is there. It’s a really lovely racecar to drive. You just we got to find a way to extract a little bit more performance for optimal lap time.”
Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:
“Long day for us at AJ Foyt Racing. We were having a really solid day, and probably would have wound up with a pretty easy top-15. But that’s racing. A wheel nut just came off when we put the gun down, so that happens. That happens to the best of us. Other than that, the Sexton Properties Chevrolet was really strong. Looking forward to getting back out to the next road course, but now we’ve got the (Indianapolis) 500.”
Benjamin Pedersen, No. 55 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:
“Tough day. We were super fast honestly. I think we were the seventh fastest average lap time the whole race, so unfortunately we went four laps down at the start due to the radio giving us issues. As a rule, we can’t be out there if the radio’s not sorted. Big bummer, just due to the fact we were really fast. I think the potential to be top-12 is there after starting P23, so we’re making huge gains from a driving perspective in car. That’s the most important thing. We’ve just got to get all the other little details for Indy.”
Callum Ilott, No. 77 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:
“Bit of a tough race. We had a first couple stints that wasn’t the best. Struggling a bit with the tires, and then managed to pull it back a bit at the end. Had some good pace but unfortunately was out a bit of position to make it easy to come back. Ended up P18 from P24. It’s been a tough weekend. I wish we could’ve got a little bit more out of it. Sometimes it’s like that. We just have to understand why and move on, and make it better for the next one.”
PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN CHEVROLET, AND ALEXANDER ROSSI, NO. 7 ARROW MCLAREN CHEVROLET — Podium Press Conference Transcript:
PATO, JUST YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT COMING HOME SECOND, ANOTHER PODIUM HERE IN 2023?
PATO O’WARD: “Super stoked for the team. We put three cars in the top five. Fricking hard to do in this series with how competitive it is. Just stoked for everybody in the organization, for our 5 crew.
We made our strategy really work, right? I just think today Palou and Ganassi were very, very strong, so we couldn’t quite get them there in the end.
Historically this hasn’t been the best of tracks for us. So this is awesome to see just the massive step forward we’ve taken here in race pace. Super happy to see that.
Rolling with some great momentum into our Super Bowl.”
ALEXANDER, CONGRATULATIONS. CHOMPING AT THE BIT WAITING FOR A MOMENT LIKE THIS WITH THE NEW TEAM.
ALEXANDER ROSSI: “Like Pato said, to get three cars in the top five is near on impossible these days. Arrow McLaren has done a phenomenal job all year. You can’t talk about how challenging it is to add a car in the off-season. They’ve done it with relative apparent ease. There’s a lot of work behind the scenes.
Really proud to get the first podium for the team, the first one as part of Team Chevy. It was a good day. We’ve had a really strong pace on Sundays, we just haven’t gotten the results that we feel like we deserve. We’re missing a little bit on Saturdays.
The pieces are coming together. I’ve got an awesome team, awesome teammates around me.”
PATO, I THINK PALOU IS THE ONLY ONE OF THE TOP SEVEN TO STARTED ON REDS.
ALEXANDER ROSSI: “Yeah, I started 10th (smiling).”
ANY SECOND THOUGHTS THERE ON STARTING ON THE ALTERNATE?
PATO O’WARD: “No, I was happy with my strategy. I just think right when we were I believe second-to-last stint, I just blew too much push to pass. I could have used some more to keep Palou behind us, which I think we might have been able to do.
Yeah, you got to pick your battles. I was like, You know what, at this point of the stage of the race. I think that was the defining moment of the race because a yellow never came out. If a yellow did come out, I would have been in very big trouble.
I just played it safe, yeah, chose my battles cautiously. Super happy, content with the solid points that we got today.”
WHEN HE WINS BY 13 SECONDS, IS IT LIKE DOESN’T MATTER WHAT STRATEGY?
PATO O’WARD: “Track position is so much here. I took longer to get by Lundgaard than what Alex did. I got stuck behind other guys a little bit longer than where he made up the time. When he got out of the pits, I was held up by some lappers. That all just adds up to the amount of time that you just keep losing, especially in those crucial in and out laps.
Yeah, I mean, obviously we’re going to look into it and see what we could have done better. I think it was a job really well done, not just by our car but all three Arrow McLarens.”
ALEX, FOR THE NEXT STEP, ARE YOU LOOKING TO EXTRACT MORE IN QUALIFYING?
ALEXANDER ROSSI: “Yeah, I mean, it’s a very different car than I’m used to. I just haven’t quite found my happy spot for like the ultimate lap. It’s close. It seems like we’re permanently qualifying 10th, 11th or 12th. It’s not a disaster. We’re certainly much better in race pace, or have been so far this year.
Yeah, I mean, it’s not the end of the world. We’ll get there. It’s competitive, and you can’t be missing a 10th of a second. Ultimately that’s what we’re missing.
We’ll keep our heads down. A bit of a shift now for the next two weeks. Yeah, really looking forward to getting started on the oval.”
CAN YOU ADDRESS THE CONFIDENCE YOU COME OUT OF THIS WITH?
PATO O’WARD: “I mean, I think confidence comes with — what I’m getting at, it’s a different beast, right? Indy is different. We’re not really going to know what we’ve got up until we put all the fast bits on the car, we see where we stack up.
Obviously last year the Ganassis were the different benchmark. They’re the ones that we’re chasing. We’ve been putting so much hard work. I know the engineers have spent endless hours of just time in all the different ways that we can find lap time for Indy.
I’m just so excited to see what we can do. We’ve continuously put ourselves into good positions there past few years. I think I can do it again for all of us at the 5 stand. Hopefully we get that opportunity and go that one more step that we want to do.”
ALEXANDER ROSSI: “Man, this is a momentum game. We talk about it a lot. Performance here doesn’t translate the other direction, but it’s good mentally for everyone. You know you’ve got the ability to have the results across all three cars. When everyone is relaxed and just doing what they know how to do, the confidence in their abilities is when the performance comes.”
IS THERE A GREATER FEELING OF PRIDE IN THAT THERE’S THREE ARROW MCLAREN CARS IN THE TOP FIVE OR IS THE FEELING MORE FRUSTRATION THAT IT’S NONE OF THEM IN THE TOP STEP OF THE PODIUM?
ALEXANDER ROSSI: “Yeah, I think it’s hard to win these races. I think the 10 car was just stronger. A stronger car will really make any strategy look good. I don’t think we would do anything different if we had to do it again.
Yeah, I think it’s all pride in the fact that it’s three cars in the top five. Obviously for Pato it’s probably frustrating. I’ve been in that boat before. You just got to enjoy the seconds, because that’s what counts at the end.”
PATO, DO YOU ENJOY THE SECONDS?
PATO O’WARD: “Man, I’m flowing. I know my wins will come. I’m chilling.”
ALEX, IT HAD BEEN A TOUGH COUPLE YEARS AT THE END OF YOUR STINT WITH ANDRETTI. IS THIS THE TYPE OF DAY YOU WERE HOPING FOR WITH A FRESH START WITH A NEW TEAM?
ALEXANDER ROSSI: “I was actually talking to a friend about it this morning. Our frustration in the fact that we’re qualifying 10th, that’s a good sign. There’s still so much potential. The whole group, not just my car.
There’s things that we know that we need to improve. It’s very clear objectives that we need to improve upon. When we unlock it all, it’s going to be a really cool thing for three cars out there.”
THE WAY THIS TEAM HAS BEEN ABLE TO ADD SO MANY PERSONNEL AT A FULL-TIME PROGRAM, DO SOMETHING WE HAVE SEEN SOME TEAMS STRUGGLE WITH, BUT I DON’T THINK ANYONE FOUND THEIR WAY TO A PODIUM AS QUICK AS YOU HAD IN A BRAND-NEW PROGRAM.
ALEXANDER ROSSI: “Yeah, it’s a testament to every single individual there, to management, to Gavin, to Brian, to all the engineers. It’s a very hard task.
Some of the people on my car in particular had never seen an INDYCAR before. Just the improvement and development every single time I show up at the racetrack is very impressive.
We just got to keep pushing along, keep addressing our weakness. Like I said, it’s going to be a cool ride for everyone.”
PATO, YOU’RE PRETTY COMFORTABLE WITH THREE SECOND-PLACE FINISHES IN FIVE RACES SO FAR. AT WHAT POINT WILL IT GET FRUSTRATING IF THAT WIN DOESN’T COME ALONG?
PATO O’WARD: “It won’t. I mean, honestly, if we’re second for the rest of the season, we’re chilling. Yeah, they will fall. Is it going to fall the next one, in two, three, four, five? Who knows. Is it going to fall until next year? You never know.
I sure know that what we’ve been doing, we’ve been knocking on the door every single weekend. Like, there hasn’t been one weekend where we’re lost, no. There’s been some weekends where we haven’t started off that strong. We make changes and we’re right there.
I’m just really enjoying it. We’re growing massively as a team. We get to work with some pretty cool people. I mean, I know Zak is having a total fan moment right now over there. I know he’s pumped to get to the 500. There’s been so much going into not just that race but for all three cars, all four cars for the 500, but all three cars for a full season.
Yeah, we just got to keep doing what we’re doing.”
SEEMS WHEN ALEX PALOU HAS A GOOD DAY, HE CAN RUN AWAY FROM THE FIELD, HARD TO DO IN THIS SERIES. FROM WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT HIM, WHAT DO YOU FEEL IT IS ABOUT HIM THAT WHEN HE’S ON, HE CAN BE ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO BEAT?
PATO O’WARD: “Impossible to beat? I don’t agree. But he’s strong. He’s in one of the best teams, arguably the best in the past few years.
We’re pushing. We’re pushing. We’re right there. We’re not far off. I know we’re going to find it. Not worried.”
ALEX, I KNOW YOU WERE A BIG BELIEVER IN BRIAN BARNHART AT THE LAST TEAM. WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO BE ABLE TO GET A PERFORMANCE LIKE THIS NOW THAT YOU AND BRIAN ARE WITH ARROW MCLAREN?
ALEXANDER ROSSI: “Yeah, I mean, Brian, I can’t say enough good things about what he does, the position that he’s in now at the team in terms of a management role, not just being a strategy guy. He’s instrumental in the success that this team has had to start the year. I’m very fortunate to have him on my car.
I was fortunate to have him last year. To be able to continue the relationship in new colors is a very good thing for both of us.”
PATO, YOU WERE ABLE TO GET ALEX DURING THE OFF-SEASON AS A TEAMMATE. HOW QUICK DID IT TAKE FOR THE THREE OF YOU TO MESH, BECOME A PRETTY GOOD TRIO?
PATO O’WARD: “Honestly, it didn’t take much time. I mean, he can correct me if I’m wrong, but I think he needed a change. I think he’s fit in very well. I think he’s really embraced how we work as a team. I think it’s extremely different to a lot of other teams on the grid.
Yeah, I mean, it’s not just like Alex. I feel like with his team, I feel like all of us are working really hard to have the best three cars on the grid.”
PATO, YOU HAVE AN INDY 500 WINNER ON YOUR TEAM, ADD ANOTHER ONE TO THE LINEUP ON TUESDAY. WHAT DOES THAT DO FOR THE TEAM DYNAMIC? HOW MUCH IS HAVING SOMEBODY WITH THAT MUCH EXPERIENCE GOING TO MEAN TO YOU GUYS?
PATO O’WARD: “I mean, obviously there’s so much that you can tap into, chat with them in certain scenarios, right?
Indy is a different beast in its own where I feel in my experience I’ve always been on my island. We know we’ve had Montoya, Alonzo. Everybody usually just goes with what they’re comfortable with. If you keep chasing something that maybe your teammate likes, you need to find what works for you. When you find what works for you, that’s how you are going to put yourself in positions to win the race.
You’re not going to get there by trying to chase someone else’s setup and hope you can drive it the same way. Everybody drives differently. So I think it’s all about maximizing what you need from your car, trying to help the whole team while you’re doing that, right?
A lot of the times my car, my teammates never liked my car. Montoya was on the other stratosphere of setups. Yeah, it doesn’t mean one’s better than the other. We just drive very differently.
When you’re going 230, 240 miles an hour, you need something that you’re comfortable with.”
PATO, ARROW MCLAREN WAS KNOCKING ON THE DOOR WITH YOU FOR THE LAST FEW YEARS. SINCE YOU EXPANDED THIS TEAM, IT FEELS LIKE IT’S ON THE THRESHOLD OF BREAKING THAT GLASS CEILING. WHAT IS IT ABOUT GAVIN COMING IN?
PATO O’WARD: “I think his approach. He has a very humored approach to everything. I can say he’s not only helped the team, but I have improved outside of the race car because of Gavin, just kind of having a different set of eyes that looks at things in a different way.
At the end of the day this is all a human sport. None of us are robots. We’re all the ones that are putting in the work. That’s what it takes.
Sometimes it’s important to know that we all need some rest and recharge sometimes. You can’t always go full on. What you need is you need to make sure you’re in the position to do it when it counts, right?
Just hats off to everybody that worked so hard in the off-season. There’s countless guys and gals in the team that spend many hours in the off-season to find more lap time.”
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