CHEVROLET RACING IN THE VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
HONDA INDY OF TORONTO
STREET OF EXHIBITION PLACE, TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUALIFYING QUOTES
SATURDAY JULY 16, 2016
SCOTT DIXON, NO. 9 TARGET CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, won the Verizon P1 Award and the right to lead the field to green on the Streets of Exhibition Place, Toronto for Sunday’s Honda Indy of Toronto. It is the 24th career pole for the four-time and defending Verizon IndyCar Series champion, and the first of the 2016 season:
TALK ABOUT THE LAST LAP, THE POLE WINNING LAP:
“Well, I think it started with the first few laps. I was all down and out. I’m like ‘oh that doesn’t look so good.’ I couldn’t get my splits to go negative and the last lap and then we just crossed the line to get another lap. They are like ‘keep going, keep going’. Just gave it our all and the car just kept actually getting quicker. I think the Firestone tires finally came in. I was probably not as hard on them as I needed to be right out of the gate. So stoked for Team Target it’s great to be back on the pole. We haven’t had a pole this year, but huge credit to the team they did a hell of a job this weekend.”
YOU ARE STILL VERY MUCH IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP MIX HOW BIG IS IT TO JUST GET THAT ONE POSITION TO HELP YOU GET A WIN?
“Any point helps, you know, as we saw last year with the tiebreaker that we had at the end and we gained one point at Iowa to bring it through. Whenever you can start on the pole at a street course, especially, is a big help. Just want to thank everybody here in Toronto as always a fantastic crowd and great people to put on a show for. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
WHAT KIND OF RACE DO YOU EXPECT TOMORROW?
“Yeah, it’s tough today. Well, this weekend, where they have made the few changes it is definitely pretty bumpy here and the course has gotten a lot tighter in (Turns) nine through 11. We will have to wait and see what tomorrow brings. I think even getting two-wide for the start is going to be difficult, but I’m sure we will be able to pull it off. For us we just have to hope for a clean day. I think whenever the Target car has had a clean day we have been at the right end of the field. We have had a few upsets this year, but just excited to be on pole. It feels damn good hopefully we can convert it into a win tomorrow.” \
ON THAT POLE RUN LAST LAP: “I was a little disappointed on the first few laps when I kept seeing the tracker and I thought ‘Oh, man, this isn’t going to be very well’. Then on the second to the last lap, they told me I was P2, need to get to a 59.9 for P1 then it started going negative again, but I just stayed on it and obviously had a smooth run on the latter part of the session. I kind of made a little bit of a mistake in turn eight. But just so happy for the Target guys. They’ve done a helava job. We struggled a little bit with speed to get to the front end of the field, but if you are going to leave it to find in qualifying, that is good because that is where you makes the most. Tomorrow is race day. Hopefully we put on a great show for the fans here.”
STARTING ON FRONT ROW: “It is definitely going to be interesting. Even going two wide is going to be difficult tomorrow. I think we should be good. To start up front is definitely key for the track and with what we have right now. But as I said, pole is one thing, we are going to try and convert it.”