CHEVROLET RACING IN THE VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
HONDA INDY TORONTO
STREETS OF EXHIBITION PLACE
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA
TEAM CHEVY POST QUALIYFING DRIVER QUOTES
JULY 14, 2018
JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 1 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – POLE WINNER
IT WAS DRY, IT WAS WET; THERE WERE A LOT OF DECISIONS TO MAKE DURING QUALIFYING
“I thought I steered us in the wrong direction for a moment. We went out a little later, which to me, I thought if we could keep the minimum amount of laps on the tires, the better. The risk is if it starts raining heavier during the session, then that’s the wrong choice because you need to be out there early getting a lap. But, fortunately it started drying up toward the end. In the middle I thought I made the wrong decision because it was raining more intensely. And then those last two laps, it just got progressively better and I knew that last lap was going to be the one to nail it. And, the car has been incredible this weekend. The Hitachi car has been fast. We haven’t had to do too much. We started a little bit slow but then found our rhythm this morning. The guys did a great job. The team has been working well together. We got all three of us (Team Penske drivers) in the ‘fast six’, so that’s all you can ask for, I think, on a day like today. And so now we go to tomorrow and focus on the race.”
YOU COULD TELL ON THAT LAST LAP YOU REALLY HUNG IT OUT THERE
“Oh, man, I braked as deep as I could, I felt like, into Turn 3 that time. And, I didn’t know if it was going to stick because the whole session you’re sliding in the drizzling conditions. You just don’t know what grip level you really have. And the last lap I could feel it was getting better and better and I’m like, I’ve got to go for it here. I know that we can get the pole so I’m going to go for it. I gave it everything I had and that’s what we came up with, man.”
DIDN’T YOU WIN HERE LAST YEAR? THIS COULD BODE WELL FOR PERHAPS ANOTHER WIN
“Yeah, it’s a good start. Now we’ve got to take care of everything for the race. But it’s a great start with a fast car. We’ve just got to get it right tomorrow and execute like we always try and do; and if we do that, we’re going to be just fine.”
SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 DXC TECHNOLOGY TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 3RD:
WILL POWER, NO. 12 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 4TH: “I just made a mistake on that one lap. I had a pretty good lap going, and caught the wet cement there that forced me out wide there. A little disappointing because we should have been further up, but that’s racing.
“No one makes mistakes these days. Qualifying means everything..”
JORDAN KING, NO. 20 FUZZY’S VODKA ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 8TH: “That was a really tricky qualifying session with it raining, then got dry and then started raining again. We did a good job in the first session on the wet tires. We got through to the second round by a few tenths, but I knew that would be the hard one. Group 2 had already had some running on the slicks and had a feel for how the track was where we had just been out in the rain. Even with it being a bit greasy, I set my fastest time of the weekend so I feel I upped my own performance a bit. We really worked on the car and ironed out a lot of the issues we’d had so far this weekend. The car is back up there where it should be, where we have been in the past. I think we could have snuck inside the Top 6, but I was taking a small margin because you could still see rain on your visor. I’m happy with it, but it was close!”
CONOR DALY, NO. 88 HARDING GROUP HARDING RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 11TH: “Well today was great! We saw some improvements in FP3, but we just got baulked on our fastest lap there. To go out on the rain tires that I’ve never driver on either and it’s a new tire with a whole new situation on the street course, but I love the rain. We had one lap to do it and we did it, so I was over the moon happy. I have to thank Chevy for dialing us in there and all the #88 Harding Racing guys because we made improvements every session. We went half a second quicker than we’ve gone in the dry in Q2, so coming out 11th as well is just awesome. It’s such a big boost for the weekend because qualifying has always been a struggle of mine for sure, but to come out and do it like that is nice.”
MATHEUS LEIST, NO. 4 ABC SUPPLY AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 12TH : “Pretty good qualifying. I have to say thanks to my team. We kept working hard since the first practice and kept developing and improving the car. We made it to the top 12 which I was not expecting. I’m pretty happy to be honest, I think we might have a great car for the race too and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
TONY KANAAN, NO. 14 ABC SUPPLY AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 15TH: “We had a dry setup on and then with the rain, I don’t think we responded accordingly so we paid the price. Tomorrow is the race so we’ll try to make something out of it.”
SPENCER PIGOT, NO. 21 PREFERRED FREEZER ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 16TH: “We just put the red tires on too soon. We started the session with them and by the end of it, when the track was at its best and it’s driest, we had already used the tires up. We were pretty high up throughout most of the session, but times picked up pretty quick there at the end. The timing wasn’t right to put on a second set; but in hindsight, we should have done blacks then reds. That was the original plan, but the weather threw a curveball at us. It’s a little disappointing as we’ve been so quick. We know the car can be fast, so tomorrow we’ll get the Preferred Freezer Services car moving in the right direction. We’ll have a lot of work to do in the race, we were pretty confident we would be advancing today. We were just a little too eager on the dry tires and wore them out too quick.”
MAX CHILTON, NO. 59 GALLAGHER CARLIN CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 18TH: “It was a hectic qualifying session. We started out on wets and decided quickly to come back in for reds, which I think was absolutely the right decision. We just kept getting quicker throughout the session, but unfortunately so did most everyone else. It just didn’t come together for us in qualifying, but I’m still very confident in what we can do tomorrow during the race with the No. 59 Gallagher Chevrolet.”
RENE BINDER, NO. 32 BINDERHOLZ TIPTOP TIMBER JUNCOS RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 19TH: “It was a really short and trick qualifying session due to the red flag. We did a great job in the first outing running P7 until the red flag. We only had time for one lap for the second outing and I was not going to risk too much. We will start P19 tomorrow and we look forward to a solid race.”
CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. 23 NOVO NORDISK CARLIN CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 20TH : “It was another learning experience for the team today with the session going from wet to dry, but I think we definitely made the right call starting on the Firestone alternates. When we came in and put the second set of alternates on and went back out we unfortunately just caught the checkered flag first and with the track rubbering in and getting faster every lap we lost a few tenths which could’ve made the difference in where we ended and advancing to the second round. Regardless of how it ended, it was a great learning experience for the team especially with us and the No. 59 car splitting strategies with tires. It’s not where we wanted to be and it’s not where the speed of the No. 23 Novo Nordisk Chevrolet is, but I think tomorrow with good pit stops and a good strategy we can move forward.”