CHEVROLET RACING IN THE VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
101ST RUNNING OF THE INDIANAPOLIS 500
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY PRACTICE 8 RECAP
MAY 22, 2017
Following two days of time trials for the 101st Indianapolis 500, Chevrolet teams turned their attention to fine-tuning their Chevrolet Aero Kits with the 2.2-liter V6 Chevrolet engine for the 200-lap race May 28.
All 15 Chevrolet drivers qualified for the field Sunday displayed additional speed in the 3½ hours of available track time as they continue to hone in on the optimal aerodynamic set-up of their race car. Reigning Verizon IndyCar Series champion Simon Pagenaud led Team Chevy drivers with a quick lap of 226.998 mph (39.6479 seconds) on the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval to place fourth overall. Pagenaud qualified 23rd in the No. 1 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet.
“I felt like my race car was very good last week, and we showed it today I think in the heat,” Pagenaud said. “It actually gets really good in traffic. It can run with people. We made a lot of changes last night, mostly on obviously bodywork, because it’s a different package than qualifying, and also a new engine to go for the race. It’s a weapon, that engine, to put in there. They put a new engine that’s really strong. Chevy did a tremendous job with calibration.”
Thirty-three entries totaled 2,705 laps without incident in the penultimate practice. Through eight sessions, 35 driver/car combinations have recorded 10,528 laps. Drivers will receive one hour of track time for a warm-up during “Carb Day” May 26. NBCSN will telecast the event live at 11 a.m. ET.
Three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves recorded a best lap of 226.705 mph (39.6991 seconds in the No. 3 Shell Fuel Rewards Team Penske Chevrolet. Castroneves qualified 19th for the opportunity to earn a record-tying fourth Indy 500 victory. He’s claimed wins from the 11th (2001), 13th (2002) and first (2009) starting positions. Castroneves logged 121 laps on the day to top Team Chevy drivers.
Sage Karam, the youngest driver in the field, who qualified 21st in the No. 24 DRR Mecum Auctions Chevrolet, also moved through the ranks with a top-10 lap of 226.381 mph (39.7559 seconds).
Ed Carpenter will lead Team Chevy drivers to the green flag of the 500 Mile Race from the middle of the front row. Carpenter, a two-time Indianapolis 500 pole sitter, blistered the racetrack during the “Fast Nine Shootout” Sunday with a four-lap average speed of 231.664 mph in the No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevrolet.
ABC will telecast the race at noon ET May 28.
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES:
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 SHELL FUEL REWADS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET: “The Shell Fuel Rewards Chevy team was able to turn a lot of laps today. Our speed was pretty decent. Our balance and handling was good. It’s all about working on race trim right now. Qualifying is behind us and we move to the next thing. I heard today that (Ryan) Hunter-Reay started 19th when he won, so we’ll just do the same thing. This race brings so many different things to the table at different times in the event and making adjustments is critical to success.”
SAGE KARAM, NO. 24 DRR MECUM AUCTIONS CHEVROLET: “It was a pretty good day. We made some good strides. Our car isn’t exactly where we want it yet. We still have some work to do. But the car is pretty good for a baseline coming out of qualifying. Pretty pleased with today. P8 is good. I felt pretty decent in traffic. It seems everyone is struggling with passing so far. Now, we just got to improve the car a little bit more. We did some pit stop practice at the end. The guys were awesome. It’s obvious they have been practicing. Everything went smooth today and now we’re ready for Carb Day.”
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET: “We finished the day strong in the Verizon Chevrolet. Like everyone else, we had a list of things we needed to get done – different things for different situations. At the end there, we were able to get out there and run. It was pretty good. We’ve had great balance all along. The speed has been a little up and down, but mostly up for us. Everyone is still working their tails off to make the car as good as possible. As I’ve thought all along, we’ll have a pretty good race car.”
JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 HUM BY VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET: “We got our work in today with the hum by Verizon Chevy. There was a pretty good list of things we wanted to work on. We did a good job on getting through that. The numbers on the chart aren’t mind-blowing or anything like that, but being fastest necessarily wasn’t on our list. If had come organically, then all the better. We’d still like to be a little faster, but we’ll work with what we have and maximize it. There’s no telling how the race will go, so we’ll be prepared to adjust as necessary.”
CONOR DALY, NO. 4 ABC SUPPLY AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET: “I think today was definitely our best day of the month. I’m really happy with how we started. The car was really nice in traffic to drive. It felt pretty racy and we were around a lot of fast guys so yeah, it felt really good. We’ve obviously done our homework for race setup and I think we learned a lot over the last week so hopefully we can just keep tuning on it a little bit for Carb Day.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 22 FITZGERALD GLIDER KITS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET: “We’ve got a couple more things to dial in before race day on the Fitzgerald Glider Kits Chevy. I’ve felt we’ve had good speed throughout. It didn’t really show today, but we had a couple of other things to experiment with. This isn’t a full-time team, but it’s coming together and we can just go after it in the race.”
ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S VODKA ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET): “I’m happy with the way the Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevrolet handles. I still think we’re one of the fastest Chevys. It’s still hard with the Hondas in traffic, they have something we don’t. It’s slightly concerning for race day, but we’ll take a look and run as trimmed as we can. I’m happy with the car, the team has done a good job and we’re getting what we can out of it. We’re competitive. We just didn’t get a tow today, so the pylon didn’t light up.”
JR HILDEBRAND, NO. 21 PERFERRED FREEZER SERVICES ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET): “Today went well. Obviously, everyone is doing race prep at this stage. Everyone looks to find their strengths and weaknesses relative to each other. It’s harder to know today with the speed the Hondas showed again and considering the different programs that everyone is on. I think we’ll have our work cut out for us like you do every year. With some good stuff from Chevrolet and our ECR guys in the pits, hopefully we can keep the Preferred Freezer car up front.”
CARLOS MUNOZ, NO. 14 ABC SUPPLY AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET: “It was a hard day, up and down, it didn’t feel good. The grip of the car was the same as the last day. One good thing is that Conor’s (Daly) car felt good, so there is a good comparison there that we can use. Next stop is Carb Day so we’ll see and check that everything is good and go to the race.”
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA, NO. 17 AFS/JUNCOS RACING CHEVROLET: “I’m very happy with this session to be honest. The No.17 AFS/Juncos Racing car feels right where I want it to be. We did a great simulation out there and we’re doing what we need to do. We just have a couple of things that we can still improve on before Carb Day. I’m looking forward to getting back at it and show what we are capable of doing. I think the pit stops were amazing. Everybody did amazing, it was the perfect simulation, so I’m looking forward to Friday.”
SPENCER PIGOT, NO. 11 JUNCOS RACING CHEVROLET: “We didn’t have a great day. I feel like we’re really struggling with the balance of the Juncos Racing car in traffic. That’s something that’s going to be very important in the race, so we have a lot of stuff to look at and improve on for Friday’s practice.”
ZACH VEACH, NO. 40 INDY WOMEN IN TECH CHAMPIONSHIP AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET: “Just extremely relieved to figure out the problem that we had through qualifying. Earlier this morning, it appeared that we had a damaged set of dampers on the car. Everything we would do, we would have no idea of its influence to the car. So as soon as we changed the dampers that we thought were an issue, they came back to life. It actually started handling like a race car should. So we’re about three days behind unfortunately with everything that’s happened, from a couple issues to our crash on Friday. We’re behind the eight-ball a little bit, but we’re working extremely hard to catch that up for Sunday. We’re gonna have 500 miles to learn a lot next Sunday.”
BUDDY LAZIER, NO. 44 LAZIER RACING CHEVROLET: “We did a lot of work on our Chevy car today for race day set-up. Our speeds aren’t where they should be but we knew that, we didn’t have the right gears in the car. Knowing that, we know that alters the speed but we still got our work done, and we made a lot of progress today. I think we will have a good race car; we will be a lot more competitive than it looks.”
An interview with SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 1 MENARDS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, who led Team Chevy drivers with a quick lap of 226.998 mph (39.6479 seconds in the practice, and talked about developing the race set-up for the car:
Q: Today, I mean, is it still a search for more speed? Was it a search for more balance? Do you think there’s something missing? Where were you at with today?
SIMON PAGENAUD: It’s a great comment actually. I always complain that we always say the same thing. But, you know, unfortunately, no, we didn’t have the speed in qualifying. We haven’t had the speed last week at all to compete. It was unfortunate and a bit of a mystery. Yesterday, I said the mysteries of Indianapolis sometimes. It’s what makes this place legendary, I guess. We made a lot of changes last night, mostly on obviously bodywork, because it’s a different package than qualifying, and also a new engine to go for the race. It’s a weapon, that engine, to put in there. They put a new engine that’s really strong. Chevy did a tremendous job with calibration.
I felt like my race car was very good last week, and we showed it today I think in the heat. It actually gets really good in traffic. It can run with people. I think it’s going to be an exciting race. There’s definitely a big competition between Honda and Chevy. Honda’s done a very strong job, bringing a strong engine and aero. But we have what we need, I think, to have a strong race. Again, it’s 500 miles so a lot can happen.
Q: Simon, can you talk a little bit about the weather. The wind obviously was a big factor yesterday. Just generally speaking, how do you anticipate it? How does it work? It changes from day-to-day. Just in the wind factor, how much time do you have to react? How much anticipation of where the breeze is do you work on?
SIMON PAGENAUD: It’s something you adjust to every corner. Every lap you have to watch the flags, especially the orange flag up top on the Pagoda. I guess I don’t know where it is. I know where it is from the track. I believe it’s 25 miles an hour socket, so if it’s straight, that means you have a 25-mile-an-hour gust. I check every lap, every corner, where it’s going, so I can adjust.
But I’m one of the drivers who adjusts every corner. Some don’t. Like Max (Chilton) said, it depends very much on your feel, what you like. I personally adjust every corner, whether it’s the anti-roll bars or the weight jacker, just to have the car where I want it to be, and no surprise. That’s the biggest thing. It’s very difficult in qualifying, because you’re already very much on the edge of grip. You enter the corner sitting on the right rear, the car is sliding. Any movement from the steering wheel is going to point you either the right way or the wrong way. Any gust of wind is going to have a big effect on the balance of the car.
So it’s quite tricky, especially when you’re so low on downforce to go for the pole, example, it’s a constant adjustment every corner, every lap. Those four laps in qualifying feels like forever. So, yeah, it’s an interesting challenge. In the race, you’re more into the car in front of you, depending what the guy is running, how much air you’re losing, and where the wind is pointing, toward your nose or not. But again, you can set your car up with the wind change. Like Max said, again, you learn these tricks every year. You learn more every year.
Q: Simon, you’ve only been with Penske a couple years. I’d like to know the reaction of Roger (Penske), except for Will (Power), all you guys starting in the back of the pack.
SIMON PAGENAUD: It’s my third year with Penske. I don’t think Roger’s happy if he’s not winning. I think that’s the whole mentality of Penske, Team Penske. You know, I think this team is working countless hours. We have people at the shop right now, understanding how this practice just went, trying to be better next one. It’s incredible. It’s a factory. It’s always booming. So we’re not here to be second, third or fourth. The goal is to win races. That’s why Roger brought five cars this month, it’s because his love of Indy is huge.
You know, the qualifying effort is not satisfying. But it is what it is at the end of the day. You know there’s competition here. It’s very strong. There are very good teams, very good manufacturers. It’s the beauty of it. Some days you dominate, some days you don’t. It’s your job to understand why and get better. I think that’s the lesson that everybody learns every time we go to the racetrack. It’s a very humbling job in many ways.
Q: Simon, it’s been a weird year because you’ve had five top fives, leading the points, first oval win. Somehow compared to last year, where you had the ridiculous start, does it feel like there’s less pressure now, like you’re flying under the radar? What is your state of mind in relation to how your season has gone versus what this race would do for you?
SIMON PAGENAUD: It’s interesting. We’ve had everything go right last year at the beginning of the year, a bit of luck. Everything went right. It’s different this year. We’ve had everything go wrong. But despite that, we’re not leading the championship since Scott has got the pole, but we’re still there, still second, I guess. It’s still a very good effort. I think a lot of guys would like to be in my position.
You can complain as much as you want, but at the end of the day it’s about working together as a team. It’s the same people, same driver, same engineer, same strategy, same mechanics. It’s just sometimes it smiles, sometimes it doesn’t. I’m sure it will smile back. When it does, hopefully the others will be very worried.