CHEVROLET RACING IN THE VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
HONDA INDY OF ALABAMA
BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK (ALABAMA)
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST QUALIFYING QUOTES
APRIL 23, 2016
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES:
SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 PPG AUTOMOTIVE REFINISH TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, VERIZON P1 POLE WINNER: WHAT DOES IT DO CONFIDENCE-WISE TO KNOCK SOMEONE LIKE WILL POWER OFF THE POLE WITH ONE LAP TO DO IT? “It was awesome. The car is just incredible – the PPG car – especially on the red Firestone tires. I really had a good time and was having fun driving it. We put the least amount to fuel in it and tried to save the tires by doing one lap each segment. The car was so good that we went through every segment. On the last lap, I just dug deep. It was one of the best feelings I’ve ever had driving. That lap was really good.”
ARE YOU IN THE ZONE MORE THAN YOU HAVE BEEN IN YOUR CAREER? “It’s just flowing so well my head. I’m very clear-minded. Everyone is working so well together. We are just having fun. It’s amazing to see how much difference a year makes.”
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 2ND: “I’m happy to be starting on the front row with the Verizon car. We’ll see if we can get a podium, a win, something to try and close that points gap so we have a shot at the end of the year.
WHAT WOULD A PODIUM DO TO YOUR PSYCHE RIGHT NOW? “At the end of the day, you have to finish ahead of those guys who keep extending their points gap. We’re due for a good result. We’ve had a bit of slow start to the year obviously. But we’ll have fun out there.”
JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 21 FUZZY’S ULTRA PREMIUM VODKA ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 3RD: “Our guys have been working so hard, I’m glad we found a little pace over the weekend! We’ve been in the Top 10 but not quite in that top group; however, we found a little bit on that last change heading into qualifying. it’s great to start 3rd, that’s right where we need to be to try and win this race tomorrow. It’s the last time we’re going to be running this 100th Running Commemorate Bottle Fuzzy’s Vodka car, so it would be nice to get a strong result here for those guys. I think we’re going to have a racecar to do it! We haven’t had the ultimate outright pace, but we’ll have longevity here – we always have.”
SCOTT DIXON, NO. 9 TARGET COCA COLA CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 4TH:: “I think we were just too loose honestly with the Coke car. We had a lot of improvement from yesterday but I’m still disappointed we weren’t all the way up there at the end. We tried to minimize laps on tires to conserve them for the race tomorrow. I think we should be in good shape for the race and hopefully get to the top step on the podium here finally.]
“I tried to save as many laps as possible on the tires. Last year we saw high degradation in the race, and any extra you put on the tires in qualifying hurt you during the race. We made a few changes in Q3. I waived off my first lap because I nearly spun in Turn 17. Then on the second I nearly spun at Three and Nine. It wasn’t a clean run. The Coca-Cola car has a ton of speed, so hopefully we can be fighting for that top step instead of second or third. That’s the plan.
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 11 TEAM EUROPA KVSH RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 5TH: “The car reacted very well on the red Firestone tires. The Europa/Hydroxycut machine did really awesome, and the crew did a great job. We were fast off the truck and didn’t really find anything that made the car better. But we were very worried about the reds because more often than not we are on par with the top guys on blacks, then we put on the reds and we struggle. I’m really happy with the way it turned out and a track record. It’s not a bad thing, but too bad I couldn’t put it together in the Fast Six. We’ll make the most of it tomorrow.”
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 AAA INSURANCE TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 7TH: “We just haven’t been as consistent as we wanted to be. The AAA Insurance Chevrolet team has really worked hard. We got into the second round and when I got out there I took a chance in Turn 9 and it didn’t work out. I’m glad I tried, though. Starting seventh isn’t that bad considering where we have been. I’m really looking forward to racing tomorrow.”
TONY KANAAN, NO. 10 NTT DATA CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 9TH: “I think we had a much better car than our qualifying result showed today. We got held up a bit by another car that had just finished with their fastest lap and we weren’t ever able to put together our fast lap. The No. 10 NTT DATA Chevrolet was actually getting better as the run went on, but we just couldn’t get the time and gap that we needed. It’s not really anyone’s fault, but it’s still frustrating. I trust the NTT DATA Chip Ganassi Racing guys and I know they’ll give me a great race car. I think tomorrow’s race is going to be pretty exciting and I’m looking forward to showing what the No. 10 can really do.”
CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. 83 TRESIBA® CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFED 10TH: “I’m really happy with our qualifying effort today at Barber. The No. 83 Tresiba® Chevrolet was not where we needed it to be yesterday or even this morning in practice. We needed to find a direction for qualifying and we definitely did. We put the alternate Firestone tires on it and found a lot of lap time we’d been missing this weekend. It was nice to make it through to the top 12 and start inside the top 10. We have a solid direction for race setup and it’s really good to see all four Chip Ganassi Racing Teams cars inside the top 11 for tomorrow’s race.”
MAX CHILTON, NO. 8 GALLAGHER CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 11TH: “The start was good and we did back-to-back sets of red Firestone alternate tires and I think it paid off for us. But with that, in the second session we didn’t have any tires left, but I’m happy with the job we all did and getting to Q2. I think finishing where we did after where we started was a big win so far this weekend and I’m looking forward to seeing how far we can move up tomorrow in the race.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 2 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLE, QUALIFIED 21ST: “It was OK but normally the reds come in really good and they go away really fast. For me they came in OK but they just stayed there. I could run the same lap times over and over again. It is not normal. I had too much understeer in the car and we’ve been fighting it all weekend. I felt like this morning where we needed to be for qualifying but we put the reds on there and I was thinking, ‘What the hell happened?’”
HOW MUCH TOUGHER DOES IT MAKE THE RACE TOMORROW? “Yeah but you can go with different strategies to try and get something done. You can’t give up. It was a tough thing qualifying today but we’ll move on.”