CHEVROLET RACING IN THE VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
HONDA INDY GRAND PRIX OF ALABAMA
BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER RACE QUOTES
APRIL 22, 2018
CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. 23 TRESIBA CARLIN CHEVROLET, sidelined by off-track contact with the wall on lap 10: WE EVENTUALLY DID SEE THAT CONTACT BETWEEN YOU AND ED JONES, WHAT DID YOU FEEL?
“I was just going through the corner and he ran into the back of me. Apparently the stewards reviewed it and no action taken and I vehemently disagree with that because when you are driving your race, especially in the wet, you have to be conscious of where the cars are. Yeah, its hard to see, but at the same time its just a dumb move. He is not a rookie anymore and he needs to not be making rookie mistakes like that.”
WHAT IS THE VISION LIKE OUT THERE?
“It’s pretty tough, especially down some of the straights. Once it got spread out and the wind picked up, it was blowing a lot of the spray off, but we were starting to get a lot of hydroplaning down the front straight. Especially out of (turn) five and back into eight…..the car was moving around a lot. As the Firestones wore a little bit…..when they were new, the grip of the car was really good. But now there is heavier rain, and especially under caution, it will puddle up a little more. It was big on that restart and you saw Will (Power) get into the wall. I totally understand it with the puddles on the front straight.”
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, sidelined by contact with wall on lap 16:
WHAT HAPPENED ON YOUR INCIDENT WILL?
“I could not see a thing. And I had just one car in front of me. It just hydroplaned on me and was out of control. I just can’t believe they went green on that with how bad it was and the amount of standing water. So yeah, very disappointing. But to me, very dangerous.”
DID THE DRIVERS SAY ANYTHING ABOUT NOT GOING GREEN THERE?
“I don’t know. We were talking about it and my spotter said it was getting bad. You can see it was getting really bad and I kept saying to Roger (Penske) that I can’t see a thing in front of me. I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face.”
ARE THE PUDDLES EVERYWHERE OR JUST WHERE YOU GUYS WERE STARTING RIGHT THERE?
“Just various spots. And they always seem to be sitting in the worst spots. They were in our various high speed areas and on the back straight as well. It’s the last thing we needed, very disappointing, and kind of disappointed that we went green.”
HOW FRUSTRATING HAS THE START TO 2018 BEEN FOR THE ENTIRE 12 TEAM?
“It has been very frustrating. I mean, I don’t know what you do in that situation. Because if you completely back off, somebody will hit you and it becomes really dangerous. If you try to keep throttle in it, you will do like I did and just spin. It’s just a really difficult situation to be put in. Just frustrating and we will move on to the next one.”