CHEVROLET RACING IN THE VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
GRAND PRIX OF PORTLAND
PORTLAND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
PORTLAND, OR
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER
POST FIRESTONE FAST SIX RECAP
SEPTEMBER 1, 2018

Power and Newgarden Give Chevy Front Row at Portland
Seventh Time in 2018 Season Pair of Bowtie Powered Drivers Lead Field to Green Flag

PORTLAND – With two races remaining in the season, and the finale carrying double-points, Will Power is focused on winning everything he can at Portland International Raceway and then on to Sonoma Raceway. He made a step in that direction today in Firestone Fast Six Qualifying.

In pursuit of his second Verizon IndyCar Series championship, Power got the very valuable point for winning the Verizon P1 award in the Series’ return to the Oregon road course. Power won the pole behind the wheel of his No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet with a blistering lap of 57.3467 seconds/123.292 mph.

Defending Series’ champion Josef Newgarden, No. 1 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, laid down a lap of 57.6877 seconds/122.563 mph to grab the second starting position and giving the Chevrolet 2.2 liter twin turbo charged direct injected V6 the front row for the seventh time this season.

Other Team Chevy Qualifiers are:
No. 20 Jordan King 12th
No. 59 Max Chilton 15th
No. 21 Spencer Pigot 17th
No. 4 Matheus Leist 19th
No. 88 Gabby Chaves 21st
No. 22 Simon Pagenaud 22nd
No. 32 Alfonso Celis, Jr. 23rd
No. 14 Tony Kanaan 24th
No. 23 Charlie Kimball 25th

Alexander Rossi, Sebestien Bourdais, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Zach Veach (All Honda) made up the remainder of the Firestone Fast Six Drivers.

NBCSN will telecast the 105-lap/206.22-mile race on the 12-turn, 1.964-mile road course live at 11:30 a.m. Pacific Sunday, Sept. 2. The race will also be broadcast on INDYCAR Radio Network affiliates,XM209.

IndyCar Media Conference Transcript
Saturday September 1, 2018
Will Power
Josef Newgarden

THE MODERATOR: We’ll begin our Verizon IndyCar Series post qualifying press conference. Joined by Josef Newgarden, starting second in tomorrows Grand Prix of Portland.

Josef, when we spoke to you a little bit earlier today, it seems you guys had found some speed in the car, but you weren’t quite sure what to expect going into qualifying. Did you feel you got most out of the car?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I think for the most part. I thought we would be top five. I felt like we had that speed. So did Will, for sure. I didn’t know if we would have enough for the pole. I hoped so. We had been there, flirting with that top spot.

It was just difficult to read the time sheets with how many yellows we’ve had, how many checkups we’ve had. I don’t think anyone has posted the best time in practice.

We expected to be up there close, at least challenge for it in the Fast Six. We just had a better car on black tires to be honest with you. Seems like the red tires, we weren’t tuned well enough for. This whole weekend we built ourselves into a box of a better racecar. I think our racecar is going to be pretty good for tomorrow, but not as strong qualifying on red compound tires.

That was our downfall. Missed a 10th or two in five, six, seven corners from Will. That’s where he had a little bit of speed on us.

1-2 for the team, can’t be disappointed.

THE MODERATOR: We also talked a little bit about traffic on a shorter road course. How did that play out in qualifying?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It was no problem in qualifying. Gets cut in half. No issues, really nice compared to practice.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Josef.

Q. You said you didn’t maximize things on the red tires. Is that a factor of having practice on Thursday?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, not really. I mean, I think Will, where he’s developed his setup for the weekend, has naturally been better for the reds. We’ve probably been naturally a little bit better on the black compound tires.

Just depends where you go. You get some tradeoffs. I like this setup style we’ve got. Didn’t seem to work as well on reds. Not necessarily that we’ve been on black tires more often. It’s just the setup that we built was not as suited to the red compound probably.

Q. Is there any problem with the Firestones with the rubber?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Only for the first group. The first group kind of clears everything off from the Mazda Road to Indy. The second group in round one is fine.

I normally like that group because people struggle on that stuff. It’s really bad for about four or five minutes, then it’s cleared off. The rest of qualifying there’s no issues with it.

Q. What went through your mind when you locked up your tires?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Ended that run, that’s for sure. I had to pit, immediately get the other sets on. Luckily we have two sets. You just got to switch over.

I knew that lap was pretty much done. That tired smoke, literally. No pun intended. You know pretty quickly you’ve ended that tire’s life.

Q. How do you assess the way tomorrow will go, side-by-side, fierce battle?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I’m not sure, to be honest with you. I think we’ll have a good race just like Mid-Ohio. People used to say about Mid-Ohio you never have a good race there. We had one of the best ones a couple weeks back. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some side-by-side racing here. It does get narrow in parts of this track, then also wide. T7 is a very wide corner that can create a lot of chaos. Some sections where you get bottled up. That kind of mixup can create a good race. You never know with IndyCar, you’re always kind of surprised when you get in the race to see what you get.

Q. Two-thirds of Team Penske seemed like they hit it out of the park this weekend. The others are struggling. How close are you on setups?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: To be honest, we’re all on three completely different setups. I don’t think we’ve ever been like this. I don’t know if that’s the trait of this track. Andretti may be the same way. You can probably run any setup on this racetrack right now. Kind of what it seems like.

We’re on three totally different islands. It’s really interesting to look at. Normally we’re very close. There’s some minor changes between us. There’s some preferences. We’re honestly in three different planets right now. We’re just trying to find what works.

I think Pagenaud has some things he dislikes, that he’s trying to find. We’ve all had that at some point this year. I’ve been places where I am looking for something I need, so is Will. We all go through that at some point or another.

THE MODERATOR: Josef, thank you very much.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Thank you.

THE MODERATOR: Will Power joining us as our polesitter for tomorrow’s race.

Will, we’ve seen both and Sebastien atop the speed charts. It’s a different track, different car, experience from the past doesn’t matter. Might be playing into factor. What are your thoughts on that?

WILL POWER: No, I can’t even remember that far back (laughter). I mean, it’s a very different track. A lot of grip, the car is different. But it’s a lot of fun. Really enjoying it out there. I think it’s the most grip we’ve had all year on a track. Cars are really hooked up.

“We knew we had to be on pole here. We know we have to win the race simply to have a shot at the championship in Sonoma, so I’m very determined. We’ll do our absolute best to try to win the race tomorrow as we are starting in the best spot. (on the pressure of qualifying) I love it. You have to put a lap together and you look at your teammate’s data and you find a little bit of time from each session and you just put it together. You can visualize a data trace and then put it on the track together. (getting pit selection in Sonoma with pole win) I wasn’t thinking about that but that really helps. Anything that can go our way is going to help because we are quite a few points back (from the points leader) so it’s simply two wins and we have a great shot at winning the championship otherwise it’s going to be very tough.”

THE MODERATOR: We’ll open it up for questions.

Q. (Question for Will about starting on pole.)
WILL POWER: We’ll see tomorrow. You don’t know how degradation is, how quick you catch lappers. It’s a long race, three stops. There’s a lot that can be done strategy-wise.

But, you know, the end of the day we have to win. We have no shot at Sonoma if we don’t. We know that. We’ll take risks depending on the situation. But unpredictable. We’re aware that we have to finish not only ahead of Alex and Scott, but quite ahead. If they’re in the top three, it makes it very difficult for us.

Q. (Question to Will about number of poles.)
WILL POWER: Yeah, I mean, obviously to be up with names like Foyt, pretty special, humbling, yeah. I need to catch Mario now. I don’t think that will happen, that’s a lot of poles. But, yeah, unbelievable. I would never have dreamed of being up there with names like A.J. Foyt.

Q. Will, did you ever think you would reach this number?
WILL POWER: No, I didn’t. I was always wondering at the end of every year if I’d even be racing the next year. It’s been an amazing drive and journey to get to this point, it really has. Very grateful for it.

Q. Will, you were part of the last ones from 11 years ago that raced here. Can you describe how different it is? Is it the car or the surface or just in general?
WILL POWER: Yeah, I mean, it’s been resurfaced. That made a huge difference in grip. There used to be patches in the middle of the corners. The turn seven corner, into the backstretch, the hairpin is a much nicer corner now. Probably promotes a little bit of passing, makes the track a little bit more technical. Those are the differences. Yeah, very fun, enjoyable track.

Q. Will, how much is the pressure is there starting the race up front?
WILL POWER: Yeah, you can never plan a start. It will be what it will be basically. Just have to be aggressive. We need to be leading out of the first chicane, yeah. And then the pressure, it’s good. You have no choice. You’re not being conservative. You just know that the only mindset is absolute aggression, taking some risk strategy on the track. That’s the only way it’s going to work for us. It’s not a nice position. I’d rather be way up there in the championship. You know what you got to do simply.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much. Good luck tomorrow.

DRIVER QUOTES:

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, POLE WINNER: THIS IS YOUR FOURTH POLE THIS SEASON, AND 54TH IN YOUR CAREER. HOW DIFFICULT WAS THAT FOR YOU GUYS?
“We actually were pretty good every session. I was just determined on focusing on what I had to focus on. I’m very stoked to get the pole. That was the focus coming in. Pole, win; pole win, and we can win the championship.”

YOU JUST WANT TO BE IN FRONT OF SCOTT DIXON NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS?
“Yeah, Dixon and (Alexander) Rossi, simply. If he finishes ahead of us tomorrow, Dixon, it’s over. It is. So, that’s what we’ve got in our head.”

HOW GOOD IS THE RACE CAR?
“I think it’s pretty good. The car has been fast all weekend. A qualifying car around here would work well.”

ARE THE REDS THE WAY TO GO IN TOMORROW’S RACE?
“Yeah, they are definitely faster. I think the reds are going to be key.”

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 1 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 2ND: ARE YOU HAPPY WITH WHERE YOU FINISHED?
“Yeah, second is great, you know? We’re on the front row, so we can’t be disappointed. I have a suspicion we’ve built a stronger race car, which is good for tomorrow but obviously we want to be good in qualifying. The guys did a good job. We were strong on blacks (tires) but we just couldn’t match it on reds. It seemed like we had the pace to beat everybody on the blacks, but red tires, I don’t think we had the set-up for that. Our Verizon car is quick. And we have the Penske cars one-two, so that’s good.”

IS THE RACE TOMORROW GOING TO BE A RED TIRE RACE?
“Yeah, I think so. I think we’ll probably see a lot of reds running tomorrow just because the tire is quicker.”

JORDAN KING, NO. 20 FUZZY’S VODKA ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 12TH: “The first session, we did a good job and I was quite happy what the car. The track really changed between Rounds 1 and 2. I was two or three tenths slower than I did in the first session so I’m a bit annoyed. We should have been solidly inside the Top 10. The difference between blacks and reds seems quite big here, so it will be interesting to see who has a good car on what tire during the race. Portland is good fun!”

MAX CHILTON, NO. 59 GALLAGHER CARLIN CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 15TH: “It’s a very fast, challenging circuit and it’s such a short lap that it’s hard to avoid traffic even with the field split into two groups. We didn’t have the pace coming into qualifying today, so we went red, red for tires which we’ve done a few times before this season. I think that strategy has worked well for us, because it has put us a few places higher than we would’ve been otherwise. It’s so hard to overtake on this track, so the chance that anyone will move forward that much because they have an extra set of red tires is unlikely in my opinion. I feel like we made the right strategy call. We’ll keep working tonight and try to find a bit more speed in the No. 59 Gallagher Chevrolet for tomorrow’s race.”

SPENCER PIGOT, NO. 21 FUZZY’S VODKA ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 17TH: “It’s frustrating, the car felt a little strange. It just really didn’t have the grip to lean on the fronts or the rears. I was just all over the place. We really didn’t change the car too much, so we’ll have to look at everything and see what we can do for tomorrow. We’ve been quick at points over the weekend, so hopefully we can get the car fast again for the race.”

MATHEUS LEIST, NO. 4 ABC SUPPLY AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 19TH: “Qualifying was difficult. We are just struggling a little bit with the car, we didn’t find a great pace in the setup. We have to keep working hard and try to make the right choices for tomorrow. We’re going to debrief tonight and see what we can do for tomorrow.”

GABBY CHAVES, NO. 88 HARDING GROUP HARDING RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 21ST: “Frustrated with our qualifying session because we have had a pretty good car all weekend. We were just getting ready to open up our fastest lap and unfortunately got traffic right ahead of us and it was really hard to get the right gap, well that was it. We have some work to do before the race tomorrow now, so far we’ve had a good car so we’ll keep positive with that.”

SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 MENARDS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 22ND: “The Menards Chevy is still just super tight. I didn’t have enough speed to make it through to the next round. I just need to keep working on understanding the track and getting the best out of the car. We are starting at the back, but we have some red Firestone tires for tomorrow. Some good strategy could bring us back to the front and that’s what we will try and do.”

ALFONSO CELIS, JR., NO. 32 JUNCOS RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 23RD: “Qualifying has finished and day two has gone by. I would say in general I am happy with the direction we went in today and the pace we picked up. Even though we did not qualify where we wanted to be I think we made a lot of progress as a team this weekend. The car is the best it’s been so far. We will keep improving and tomorrow I think we have some great pace to battling with everyone in the pack. It’s a big step forward so we will now focus on the race.”

TONY KANAAN, NO. 14 ABC SUPPLY AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 24TH: “It’s been a difficult weekend for us. We’ve tried absolutely everything we could with the setup since Thursday and nothing seems to give the No. 14 ABC Supply car a direction. I’m not sure exactly what to expect from the race, the only thing I can say is that I’ll give my 110%, like always.”

CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. 23 TRESIBA CARLIN CHEVROLET, QUALFIED 25TH: “Obviously I’m disappointed with how we qualified today. We made some big strides forward yesterday with the No. 23 Tresiba Chevrolet after Thursday’s test. Even this morning I was still feeling pretty good with where we were, but we just missed the window on tires and qualifying didn’t go our way. I’m still confident in our race pace and I think with a little bit of strategy we could still come out of Portland with a good result.”