CHEVROLET AERO KIT INDYCAR V6 2.2 LITER
STREETS OF LONG BEACH
TEAM CHEVY POST QUALIFYING QUOTES
APRIL 17, 2015
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 AUTOMOBILE CLUB OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, POLE SITTER: “First off, I want to thank AAA. It was awesome. It was on rails. We really worked very hard. The team from yesterday, especially last night, we changed everything in the car and it was awesome. I want to thank Roger (Penske, team owner), Jonathan (Diuguid, engineer), Travis (Law, chief mechanic) and really the whole team. It was not pretty last night, but it proved that we were able to keep pushing. The strategy was great. To get the pole with the teammates I have, it’s really cool. Now we have to keep pushing. Chevy did a great job as well because (the series) took away some things from us but we were able to overcome those issues and now we’re in the No. 1 spot.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 2 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 2ND: “In the first practice we were really good. We went one direction for the second practice and went slower, tried something this morning and went even slower, so I was like, ‘Oh, let’s put it back. We spent two days trying to figure it out and then just put it back the way we started and things were good. Welcome to motor racing. I really thought I had it (pole) there, but I made a mistake in the last corner, but it is what it is.”
SCOTT DIXON, NO. 9 TARGET CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET. QUALIFIED 3RD: “The Target car actually rolled off really well here – better than we normally do. We came into this weekend with a different mindset and I’m really proud of everyone on the Target Chip Ganassi Racing team for getting it going. We seemed to do really good on the black tires. We were hoping for bigger improvements and more of a time difference with the reds from the blacks, but we just didn’t find it. We were still quick enough, but hopefully we can find that time tomorrow during the race. Long Beach is always a tough one and strategy is definitely going to be top-of-mind
SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 PENSKE TRUCK RENTAL CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 5TH: “It’s been good. We’ve been fast in every practice. Congrats, Helio, good job. Team Penske is doing a great job. Personally we picked up a sudden understeer, don’t understand why, in the last qualifying session. Overall it’s been a good weekend so far. Hope it stays that way tomorrow.”
JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 67 HARTMAN OIL CFH RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 6TH: “This was a good recovery from practice one as we didn’t roll of the truck stellar. The CFH Racing team is so good at figuring things out and recovering, and that’s exactly what we did. I am happy and proud of my team, they’re strong. Sixth is not as high up as we wanted to be, but we’re right in the thick of it. We’ve got a strong chance to challenge tomorrow, we’ve just got keep our nose clean for once around this place and we should definitely be primed for a good result.”
TONY KANAAN, NO. 10 NTT DATA CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 7TH: “It’s frustrating that we didn’t make it into the Firestone Fast 6, especially after the lap times we were running in that first round. We made a change between Q1 and Q2 and that unfortunately cost us a few tenths in the NTT DATA Chevrolet. We were less than one-tenth from sixth, so it was definitely tight. That’s what I love about INDYCAR though, the competition is so strong and I think tomorrow’s race will definitely be exciting.”
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO.11 TEAM HYDROXYCUT KVSH RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 9TH: “Disappointed definitely. The Hydroxycut machine is not where we want it to be, but it could have been a lot worse. We could have gotten taken out straightaway in the first round of qualifying. We just don’t have the speed. It has been a trying weekend so far. I think we got a little bit lost, so we need to hit the reset button. We will do that and see what happens in the warm up tomorrow morning.”
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA, NO. 8 AFS CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 11TH: “I’m just still really excited to be back in the car and racing in such a competitive field. Everyone is just running so close and it’s really fun to be out there driving. The car was really good and it handled amazingly in that first round. The red came out perfectly for us and allowed us to finish in P2 and move onto the next round. We came out in the second round really fast, but ended up picking up some understeer that killed the momentum we’d been building. I’m happy with the car for tomorrow, and I think we’ll be able to come out fast and make our move to the front.
LUCA FILIPPI, NO. 20 FUZZY’S VODKA CFH RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 14TH: “We had much more potential and the ability to get into Round 2. Unfortunately, we were caught in traffic and when we were just starting to push on the red Firestone Firehawks, the red flag came out. It’s a bit of a shame, but it’s important that Josef (Newgarden) proved our cards are fast and the team has done a good job. I’m very positive for tomorrow. Our potential is much better than where we started. We can really aim for a strong finish here at Long Beach.”
CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. 83 NOVOLOG FLEXPEN CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 15TH: We were so close to transferring through to the next round – I think it was something like half of a tenth of a second of my fast lap. There was a local yellow out there that I slowed down for and ultimately lost that tenth off my lap time that would’ve allowed us to transfer. We were actually penalized for not slowing down enough in the local yellow zone, so I lost my fastest lap and moved down a few starting positions. I’m excited about taking the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen into the race here in Long Beach tomorrow. I think we have a good car and great people on the stand to call strategy. We have 80 laps to sort it out and come from 15th up to the front.”
WILL POWER, NO. 1 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET , QUALIFIED 18TH: ON QUALIFYING EFFORT: “I’m just kicking myself for not finishing the lap that I had a bobble on. I turned the engine down, coasted for a bit and took off again. It’s going to be tough. You know how these IndyCar races go. Anything can happen. We have to be positive and hope a yellow falls our way. That’s kind of our only chance to make something of it.”
DO YOU START PLANNING HOW YOU’RE GOING TO ATTACK THE RACE TODAY? “You have to do it on the fly a bit. We just have to have a talk about it and see what we can do from there. It’s hard to pass… probably a little harder to pass with these cars, too. The good thing is that we have plenty of red tires. We’ll do our best and see what we can come up with.”
STEFANO COLETTI, NO. 4 KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 23RD: