CHEVROLET RACING IN THE VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
DESERT DIAMOND WEST VALLEY PHOENIX GRAND PRIX
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY (ARIZONA)
QUALIFYING RECAP
FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2016
HELIO CASTRONEVES EARNS POLE, SETS PHOENIX TRACK RECORD
Team Penske driver leads Chevrolet to top 10 positions in qualifications on oval
PHOENIX (April 1, 2016) – Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves broke the 20-year-old Phoenix International Raceway track record on the way to earning the Verizon P1 Award for the pole position for the Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix.
Castroneves’ first lap of 19.0997 seconds (192.631 mph) in single-car qualifications on the 1.022-mile oval eclipsed the record set by two-time Indianapolis 500 winner and Scottsdale, Arizona, resident Arie Luyendyk. Castroneves, driving the No. 3 REV Group Team Penske Chevrolet, earned the pole with a two-lap average speed of 192.324 mph.
Luyendyk, a Verizon IndyCar Series race steward, set the mark with a lap of 19.068 seconds (183.599 mph) in earning the pole on March 23, 1996.
Castroneves, who won at PIR in 2002 from the pole, will lead the 22-car field to the green flag for the 250-lap race under the lights Saturday as the Verizon IndyCar Series makes its return to Phoenix International Raceway after an 11-year absence. NBCSN will telecast the race at 8:30 p.m. ET.
“The first lap was really big and I was really happy with the balance of the car,” said Castroneves, who claimed the 46th pole of his long and successful career – fourth on the all-time Indy car list. “I was very surprised actually that it happened. At the end of the day, the car was strong. The REV Group Chevrolet was really, really strong. Now we have to keep pushing so hopefully we finish at the top.
“Nineteen seconds a lap, it is pretty impressive. The fans that are going to be here at Phoenix are going to see the fastest cars in the world going around this place.”
Chevrolet drivers claimed the top 10 positions in qualifying. Tony Kanaan (No. 10 GE LED Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet), who won at the track in 2003 and ’04, will join Castroneves on the front row after posting a two-lap average speed of 191.511 mph.
“It was pretty good, and the conditions changed a lot since this morning, so it was a little tricky to make a decision in what to do with the car,” Kanaan said. “But I think big props to Chevy and Pratt & Miller on their accurate data because we made some changes in the car. It was totally blind, just according to the numbers they gave us, and it was spot on.”
Juan Pablo Montoya, the Verizon IndyCar Series championship runner-up in 2015 and winner of the 2016 opener last month on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, qualified third in the No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. Charlie Kimball (No. 83 Tresiba Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet) qualified fourth, and team owner/driver Ed Carpenter (No. 20 Fuzzys Ultra Premium Vodka Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet) rounded out the top five.
Team Penske drivers have earned the pole for the first two races of the Verizon IndyCar Series season, with Will Power setting the track record for the opener.
The Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix is set to start on Saturday, April 2 at 5:30 p.m. PT (8:30 p.m. ET) with live television coverage on NBCSN. Live radio coverage will be on XM Radio Channel 209, IMS Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 212. In addition, IndyCar live timing and scoring with the radio broadcast can be found at www.indy.car.com, indycarradio.com and IndyCar App on your mobile device.
POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
Press Conference with Tony Kanaan and Helio Castroneves
THE MODERATOR: We’ll get started with our post-qualifying press conference. We’re pleased to be joined by Tony Kanaan, driver of the No. 10 GE LED Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet, will start second in the race after qualifying today, his first front-row start since Iowa Speedway of last year. Tony, why don’t you briefly give us a summary of how your qualifying run went.
TONY KANAAN: It was pretty good, and the conditions changed a lot since this morning, so it was a little tricky to make a decision in what to do with the car. But I think big props to Chevy and Pratt & Miller on their accurate data because we made some changes in the car. It was totally blind, just according to the numbers they gave us, and it was spot on.
Obviously it wasn’t quite enough to get the pole, but I won here from second place before, so we’ll try tomorrow.
THE MODERATOR: Talk about the veterans up front.
TONY KANAAN: We’re still going. You guys can call us whatever you want, but as long as we’re still winning —
THE MODERATOR: You guys have experience around here. You obviously know your way around well.
TONY KANAAN: Yeah, that’s going to count a lot, especially tonight is going to be a really important session I would say because it’s the same time as the race is going to start. You know, we’re going to just simulate the race. It’s the same time. I think it’s supposed to be even hotter tomorrow. So I would say it’s going to be tricky, so it will be really I think a really busy 30 minutes this afternoon.
Q. If you’re a Honda driver, is there cause for concern, or do you think that this is kind of an anomaly?
TONY KANAAN: I’m a Chevy driver so I don’t know how to answer that question. You can ask the Honda drivers that. I don’t know. I can’t talk about what they have because I don’t know what they have. All I know is I’m very happy with the Chevy that I’ve got.
Q. Tony, the broadcast was covering any wheel adjustments that the drivers had, and I think you might have had that on your list. Can you talk about that?
TONY KANAAN: Yeah. You know, when you’re qualifying at the edge like that, you’re asking everything from the car and from yourself. The way qualifying works on the mile oval, you have to go out there from the first lap as fast as you can to get the tire temperature because the track is so short, and you get a green flag like second time by. That’s why you see a lot of people sliding because the tires were not up to temperature yet. Usually normally we wouldn’t go out that fast to build up — you always build up speed and have three, four, five laps, but obviously you don’t have that luxury in qualifying. That’s why you’re seeing a lot of people sideways. But also, like I said, I think the temperature raising from this morning, it caught a lot of people by surprise.
Q. Tony, with the desert mountains in the background and all the sand, is this an effect when wind is blowing sand on the track to make it slippery?
TONY KANAAN: It is, but actually if you look at the wind this weekend it’s not that strong, so I don’t think that will be a concern. There was a concern at the test because it was a little stronger, but I have to say big props to Phoenix. They did a pressure wash of the track last night, because they have a tendency to actually get in between the SAFER barrier and the wall, and by doing that it got a lot better, so I don’t think we’re going to have an issue this weekend with that.
Q. I’m going to take a stab at this from the other direction. If you’re a Chevy driver, how much does today give you confidence?
TONY KANAAN: I think you can look at the grid. That answers you right away. Look at the top 10 there and you tell me what you think.
You know, I think Chevy has been doing a great job for a long time, and props to them. I’m not trying to — I’m not hammering on Honda at all. I think they are very capable. But this is racing. We knew at some point that somebody was going to be better, and that’s just the way it is, and we’re not bragging about it because I can tell you that situation can change from one race to the other, so we’ve just got to keep our heads up and working together with Chevrolet and Pratt & Miller and those guys to be able to maximize what we’ve got. If you think about after here we’re going to test in Indy next week, that’s going to be really important, so we’ll be bragging about it here, and then we get there and the Hondas are better, then what? You know what I mean? I think we’ll take one day at a time. But I have to say I’m very confident and happy to be with them.
Q. Tony, your teammate Max Chilton is a rookie, but are you starting to be concerned about having to watch for him in your mirrors?
TONY KANAAN: Well, you know, he has every information we’ve got, and to be honest with you, I’ve been working very closely with him and Dario, which is the drivers’ coach there for the team, and out of all the rookies that I worked with in the past few years, he’s the most mature one. I’m not surprised that he’s that good. I’m not saying I’m now going to be concerned because I think he has every information I’ve got. He’s very capable, so I know he’s going to be good. So we’re just going to have to keep working the way we do, the four of us together. We have a pretty good chemistry in the team as far as sharing information. We sit down at the engineer meeting and we’re all at the same table. But he’s a very mature rookie, so I would say he’s going to give us a hard time pretty soon.
Q. You’re known for your aggression, especially on bullrings like this. Is the car playing into that, or do you have to be a little more careful?
TONY KANAAN: It’s tough to give yourself the props like that, but I would say if you look at the results, I mean, I’m always being extremely competitive, let me put it this way, at the mile ovals. You look at Milwaukee, you look at Iowa, you look at here. I think this is a little bit of both. Obviously I can’t make miracles if I don’t have the car, but I think my engineer described it the best to me. Todd has been with me for two years now, and he was saying that in his opinion, in his point of view, my ceiling for this type of tracks are a little bit above that of people he worked with before. So I think that is a pretty good compliment. I can’t say it because it comes natural to me. All I can say is being back in the Indy Lights days and my first two seasons in Champ Car, I started dead last in every single mile oval. I had to do a lot of work with Steve Horne back in the days of that team to be able to get a grip and understand this type of track, and I think that worked out pretty well.
THE MODERATOR: Congratulations. Thank you very much. Helio Castroneves is here, his 46th career pole position in IndyCar racing, fourth in the all-time list. Bobby Unser is third at 49. Your second pole here at Phoenix International Raceway, a track record.
HELIO CASTRONEVES: Wow, keep going. I like what I’m hearing right now.
THE MODERATOR: Talk about your run today.
HELIO CASTRONEVES: Yeah, I mean, first of all, what a great opportunity again to be back in PIR. This is probably my first oval ever in my career, so it’s great to be back again in this place.
Yes, it’s an honor to be breaking the record, which has been holding for 20 years, and now we’re able to show that Verizon IndyCars are fast, and also in my car, the Rev Group car, was really on rails. We came here preseason, we showed that, and we kept going. The temperatures were really difficult because of the temperature and you’ve got to push to the limit, and we definitely pushed to the limit. My first lap was pretty good, and the second lap was a little bit of a moments in Turn 3 and 4, which I was not expecting that. That’s probably why it was huge. But at the end of the day, we were able to put the No. 3 in the pole position and now got to focus for tomorrow.
THE MODERATOR: We had Tony up here a few minutes ago who qualified second, Juan third. Is there something about the experience —
HELIO CASTRONEVES: Absolutely, oh, yeah. That’s why we keep saying that especially the way you run in the cars and in these conditions and things like that. It just shows that it’s not about — age is just a number. At the end of the day, I never thought about in these conditions, I always keep trying to improve myself, developing the way of — whether it’s an oval or a road course, always trying to push the way.
Really excited for tomorrow night, but we’ve got to continue working because qualifying is one thing, racing is another.
Q. Helio, earlier you had to test here. How identical was your setup? Was it similar, the same or totally different in qualifying?
HELIO CASTRONEVES: We didn’t change a single spring since we came here preseason, so it was very similar.
Q. You want us to refer to you as The King now?
HELIO CASTRONEVES: Well, yes, absolutely. Yes, servant. (Laughter.) What can I do for you?
Q. May I bring you some grapes and wine?
HELIO CASTRONEVES: No, I have my people. You’re fine.
Q. Talking a little bit about how much this track changed from the last time you were here 11 years ago, been repaved and reconfigured and all that. Does it still feel like the same track?
HELIO CASTRONEVES: Well, it feels when you go into Turn 1, obviously I don’t think we’re able to go that fast if there is not a little bit of opening on the exit of Turn 2. So definitely that helped in terms of going fast. But the conditions didn’t, and that’s why it was interesting to see how tough it was out there.
But the amazing thing is the difference in speed between straight and corner. It’s just incredible. We’re talking about three miles an hour, and when you say the only three mile-an-hour difference from the straightaway to the corner, that’s pretty impressive to see how the cars are going in the corner.
Q. What did Arie Luyendyk say to you when he gave you the crown?
HELIO CASTRONEVES: He was very happy that after 20 years, somebody was able to do it, and he was happy to give me the crown, so that’s what he told me. That was cool. That was very nice of him to do that, and it’s great to see him again, and we are happy to have him working with us.
THE MODERATOR: Congratulations.