CHEVROLET RACING IN THE NTT INDYCAR SERIES
103RD RUNNING OF THE INDIANAPOLIS 500
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DAY 2 PRACTICE RECAP
MAY 15, 2019
INDIANAPOLIS (May 15, 2019) – Day 2 of practice in preparation for the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 has concluded with Team Chevy driver Josef Newgarden, No. 22 Shell V Power Team Penske Chevrolet posting the fastest lap of the day – 228.856 mph. Spencer Pigot, No.21 AutoGeek Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet and Helio Castroneves, No. 3 Pennzoil Team Penske Chevrolet posted the third and fifth fastest speeds respectively.
· All 18 Chevrolet 2.2 liter twin-turbo V6 powered drivers were on-track today
· Patricio O’Ward completed all phases of Rookie Orientation
· Fernando Alonso was involved in a single-car accident that will relegate him to his backup car for Day 3 of practice
Day 3 will commence at 11:00 a.m. Thursday. May 15,2019. Teams and drivers will have seven more hours to fine-tune their cars in preparation for qualifying on Saturday.
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES:
Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Shell V-Power Nitro Plus Team Penske Chevrolet:
End of Day Press Conference
THE MODERATOR: With that, we’ll turn it over to the guy who has had a hell of a season, fastest today in the No. 2 Shell V-Power NiTRO+ Team Penske Chevrolet. Did I get that right?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Nailed it. I think you did it better than me.
THE MODERATOR: Talk us through your day.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, it was an OK day, pretty clean, for us at least. You saw it’s not easy. A couple wrecks today. I think that shows you that it’s not super straightforward to try and get around here even on a practice day.
But yeah, for us, we’re just trying to work through our program. I think we need to be a bit better in traffic. Still trying to figure out exactly what we need on the race car. That was kind of our focus today. We didn’t really do much qualifying sims or anything like that.
So yeah, we’re trucking forward. I think the Shell car feels OK. It’s not a bad start. I’m trying to stay careful with it. I always try and respect this place at the beginning. I never try and push until it’s time. Just you’ve always got to watch your back around here. She’s a tough place at a lot of moments.
But yeah, so far, so good. Really happy to be here with the group again and trying to go for a good month. I think we’ve got all the capability in the world, so hopefully we can seal off a good Sunday.
THE MODERATOR: How hard is it to hold back that little bit when you want to go forward and push forward but you know you have to take it a step at a time and work through the process?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It’s not hard. You have so much time, I think it’s easy to do that. Just you have so many sets — you have 36 sets of tires. It’s crazy how much time and tires you have. I think being methodical is really the wise thing to do. It just works really well in my opinion.
You’ve got to peak at the right moments. Qualifying is very important. There’s a time there when you need to go quick, you need to have the car trimmed correctly, and it’s got to feel good, and then there’s a time to push in traffic and make something happen in the race.
Yeah, I think you pick your moments carefully, and it’s always fun running around here, though. I’ve been having a blast the last couple days.
Q. Josef, obviously the name of the game is to win this thing, and you haven’t won it yet. Just talk about coming over from Penske — into Penske now. What’s the pressure like for you?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Honestly, it’s the same. You have pressure when you come here. Everyone wants to do well. This is a big event for everybody. You know, it’s big for us, obviously, being Team Penske and being the winningest team at the Indy 500. It’s 50 years here at the 500 specifically, which is quite cool.
So it’s — there’s no doubt there’s pressure, but honestly, it doesn’t matter what team you’re with. I feel the exact same way when I started in 2012 as I do today. You know that this race counts for everybody. Some sponsorships hinge on this place and this month. So it’s important for everybody. I don’t think it matters what position you’re in. Everyone knows what it means, and that’s why it’s so special.
Q. You said earlier it’s tough to follow. Harder than last year, easier, the same?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Pretty similar. Pretty similar. I think maybe a touch easier but not much. I mean, it feels like a very similar car to last year, so I think the race will probably be similar, maybe a bit better. I think there’s more downforce we can put on that we’re not doing right now, which the series has done. So we have more options to work with that might make it easier on race day. It really depends on the heat. If it’s a 90-, 95-degree day, I think you’ll probably see a similar race. If it’s 70 degrees, maybe it’s probably going to be a bit closer, a bit more packed up. So it really just depends on temperature in my opinion at this point.
Q. There are four drivers now on your team, Helio (Castroneves) is back, and I would think drivers have different preferences for their setups like you do. So do you start out with the same baseline and try different things and see what works and what doesn’t? How close is your driving style to the other drivers?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It just depends. Like we’re all a little bit different, but we’re not miles away from each other, to be honest. Really just preference things like you just stated. There’s always little differences, little cueing things that we like, small feel differences in the way the car turns in, the way it reacts, little things like that.
So there’s — yeah, there’s small differences, but I think we’re all in the same ballpark, to be honest, which helps. When we’re all in the same ballpark, then we can try four different things and come back together and talk about it, and it just accelerates our growth throughout a month.
We try and utilize that as best we can, a four-car operation. You can see it works quite well with like a group like Andretti, they have the same sort of situation going. They’ve got four or five cars over there every year, and it just helps celebrate the program when everyone is in a similar window and you can all try something different.
Q. During the race, you have Americans and foreign drivers, and not only do you want to win, but is there a competition, the 33 Americans against the foreigners to win that race?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Probably in some respect, yeah. I’ve always taken a lot of pride in being an American running this race, but this race to me would not be what it is if we did not have the international drivers. You know, the whole point of Indianapolis is to bring the best of the best from around the world and to compete at this venue, and to me that’s what it’s all about, whether it’s manufacturers or personnel or drivers. You want to have the best people here running this race.
If it was just Americans, to me it wouldn’t mean nearly as much. I want to win it as an American, but I love that we have so many different people from around the world in a very diverse paddock. I think it’s quite important. But we’ve got a great crop of Americans, like you stated, so hopefully we’ve got a good chance to keep the victory on home soil, if you will.
Q. Two questions: Will yesterday said that he feels a big difference between the way the car handles this year from last year. How much have you felt that, and are you optimistic that it’ll be a little more competitive this year even if it is hot?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: You probably re-talk to him today, he’d probably have a different answer for you. I think he feels similar to me in what I just said, where it feels similar to last year.
But I think it’s going to come down to temperature. I really do. I think if it’s a hot day, you’re going to see a similar race. If it’s 70 degrees, it’ll probably be closer.
Q. Also yesterday, Colton (Herta) had a spin, his first spin at the speedway, and earlier today Felix (Rosenqvist) had his first crash. Do you remember your first crash or your first spin? Was it kind of something that once you had it, it was kind of good to get that out of the way because now you know what the limit is?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, everyone reacts differently. I can’t speak for those guys, but certainly for me it’s a respect thing. I think you learn to respect where you’re at on the track. You can get a false sense of confidence around this place really easily, and if you don’t check yourself at one point, it can catch you out in the wrong moment.
So I think it’s good for that. That’s what it was good for with me. But the other guys, I don’t know. I’m sure they’ll reestablish themselves just fine. They’re all pros out there, and they’ll get better from it. That’s what this place does.
Q. Do you remember your first one?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Mine? Yeah, I remember my first — it wasn’t a wreck. I remember my first spin. I guess you’d call it a wreck, but really, I 360’d off Turn 4. I think I was behind (Tony) Kanaan. I was on a really big tow lap behind Kanaan. Got a little bit close to him with too much lock in the wheel and then spun off Turn 4. I don’t think he even really hit anything. I think I just damaged maybe just slightly the front wing, but the car itself was fine, so I got really lucky on my first spin.
But just that teaches you. It teaches you where the limit is with traffic running and how much you can push it. Yeah, I do remember it. Yeah, 2012, my first year here.
Q. Obviously driving in traffic is going to be very important, especially for the race, and the temperature is going to play a lot in that. How have your cars handled, yours specifically and your team’s handled, so far in the practice session?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I think we’re like halfway there. The car is OK, but it’s not — it’s by no means perfect at the moment. I think we need to be a little bit better at following in a deep pack. It’s one thing to follow one car or two cars, but once you get 15 cars back, it becomes very difficult. And that’s where we need to be better is in a really, really deep pack.
The idea is to qualify up front and stay up front, but look, you have to have a car capable of coming through the field. If something happens and you get put back there, you’ve got to be able to come back to the front. So that’s why we work on it.
But yeah, I think we’re about halfway there. Taking baby steps. Day 2, feels OK, but we need to be a little closer.
Helio Castroneves, No. 3 Pennzoil Team Penske Chevrolet: “Another great day for the Pennzoil Chevy. We felt that every moment we were out there was a learning process. We made some positive changes and as the track cooled down, we decided to stop a little early so we can focus on warmer weather tomorrow. So tomorrow is going to be a busy day for sure and we’re looking forward to it.”
Matheus Leist, No. 4 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet: “Productive day here at the track. We went over a lot of things that we had planned and didn’t have any issues so that was a good thing. Through most of the day we did a lot of “qually” runs trying to focus on qualifying and trying to develop our car from last year. Towards the end of the day, we just focused a little bit more on race pace—ran about an hour and a half with race setup. Just looking forward to Day 3. I think we have a good baseline for qualifying and the race so we’ll just keep trying to have smooth days and we’ll be in good shape for qualifying and race day.”
Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet: “We’re definitely in a better window right now. I feel a lot more comfortable in traffic and the car feels pretty good. So now we’re just going to have to start trying little things. Maybe head into some qualifying work tomorrow. I saw Rosenqvist crash in front of me and it was so, so close. I’m glad he’s ok. This place you have to be so careful with these cars. They can really bite you. I just hated to see him hit the wall like that.”
Tony Kanaan, No. 14 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet: “A good solid day. We did a lot more of qualifying work, I think we’re P2 (no tow speed), and then at the end some race work. Happy, I’m happy but we’ve got to keep digging. We don’t know what the other guys are doing. Some are doing just race stuff. I’m pretty happy with my race car right now. There’s a couple things we need to improve but we’ve got to qualify first so we’re going to concentrate on that tomorrow.”
Ed Carpenter, No. 20 Preferred Freezer Services Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet: “It was a decent day. It felt a little more like May today in practice. Everything went exactly to script and all the changes we made, we were pretty happy with. Today was a good exploration day! In the end, we made progress. We had some peaks and valleys throughout the day, but that’s what you have to deal with in May. It’s what makes it so challenging on track! Overall, I think things are working really well for the team. I feel pretty good about the progress we are making, but there is still a lot of work to do. We will be working more towards speed as we get closer to the weekend.”
Spencer Pigot, No. 21AutoGeek Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet: “It was another good day. We made a lot of improvements to the car. In traffic, we made the car a lot better which is always positive. We were able to put up some good lap times and pass quite a few cars. So far, so good in practice!”
Simon Pagenaud, No. 22 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet:
“We had a really good first two days here at the speedway. We’re really happy with the Menards Chevy. It’s good. It’s strong in traffic and good on its own so we’re just going to work on little details which is amazing. We’re way ahead of the program so I believe this strengthens our chances.”
Charlie Kimball, No. 23 Fiasp Carlin Chevrolet: “Overall it was another great day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. We spent a little bit of time working on single-car pace and started down a road of changes and found a direction we need to keep exploring. After we got some laps in early in the session, we came back to the garage and got ready for some race running. We did some work in traffic and the No. 23 Fiasp Carlin® Chevrolet was okay, but now we have a pretty solid direction we need to keep pursuing. The spotters and the whole team did a great job today and we were able to finish up the day with some good live pit stop practice.”
Sage Karam, No. 24 DRR WIX Filters Chevrolet: “Day two for us was definitely a step in the right direction. We did some setup work overnight and made an initial run. We made a few minor changes but it wasn’t what we wanted. So we went back to the garage and went in the direction of JR’s setup. The car was way better and I was able make some good runs by myself. Yesterday (Tuesday) and this morning, the car didn’t feel very good running with other cars. But this afternoon the car felt much better in the packs. We are working with JR and his team with a variety of setups for traffic. I like the direction our team is going towards the weekend.”
Patricio O’Ward, No. 31 Carlin Chevrolet: “I think it was a pretty good day for us. We were able to finish up our Rookie Orientation Program this morning and then we started going through our run plan for the day. I was very pleased with what the No. 31 Carlin Chevrolet did out there today. Even though we were further down on the timing sheets, we ended ninth for no-tow speed, so I’m happy with that. We did some good work for qualifying and then we did some running in traffic so I could get a feel for what that was like in an Indy car. We definitely have some more work to do to the car, but I really think tomorrow is going to be even better for us.”
Kyle Kaiser, No. 32 Juncos Racing Chevrolet: “Overall, I am really happy with how day two has gone. Starting off this morning we rolled off in the #32 Chevrolet and went straight off to running in traffic and had a pretty strong lap right out of the gate. More importantly the car is feeling really good. The balance has improved a lot since last year. Running on our own our no tow speeds are really strong and the car’s balance also feels great. The team has just done an amazing job preparing for this. Regardless of what is happening outside of our program the team is maintaining focus and doing a really great job. I am looking forward to having another fun day tomorrow as we keep preparing and get closer to qualifying.”
Pippa Mann, No. 39 Driven2SaveLives Clauson-Marshall Racing Chevrolet:
JR Hildebrand, No. 48 DRR Salesforce Chevrolet: “We are just learning what we can do with the car. We want to work more with the package this year and it isn’t that much different from last year. However, there are a few new aero parts, a new tire compound from Firestone and the sealer on the racing surface. We feel like we are in the window now. We don’t feel like we should be throwing major changes at it. Because of that we are trying to be thoughtful and making sure that when we make changes we are getting a good read of the car. The car feels pretty good. Feels like we are close to where we want to be. We did all race running again today. We ran with other cars but right when we thought we would record a big number, there was a track inspection. It happened twice. But our crew seems ready to get more speed out of the car on Thursday.”
Max Chilton, No. 59 Gallagher Carlin Chevrolet: “I think that’s probably the most laps Carlin has ever done in a practice session here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which is good progress. With race running, the more laps that you do the more you learn. I think we did the most laps out of anyone out there and I’m starting to feel more confident with the No. 59 Gallagher Carlin Chevrolet race car. There are still a few things that we need to iron out, but after two days of testing I’d say it’s going well.”
Ed Jones, No. 63 Ed Carpenter Racing Scuderia Corsa Chevrolet: “Another positive day! Made some changes, made some improvements. We also found some elements that didn’t work. It’s all part of the learning process, but I think we are going in the right direction.”
Fernando Alonso, No. 66 McLaren Racing Chevrolet: (On what happened prior to contact) “It was understeer on the car, and even if I lifted the throttle on the entry of the corner, it was not enough, and I lost completely the front aero. The wall came too close and too quickly. Unfortunately it happened today. We will lose a little bit of running time again. I’m sorry for the team, but we will learn and hopefully we will come back stronger tomorrow. I’m disappointed and sad for the team and for the guys.
“We worked quite a lot on the car and definitely now it’s quite damaged, so I feel sorry for the team and for my mistake. We will learn from this and hopefully tomorrow we’re back on track and back stronger.”
(Did something feel loose on the car?): “No, I think it was just pure understeer that I didn’t expect. I was running a bit close to another car and suddenly mid-corner I lost completely the front grip. I tried to lift off and avoid the wall.”
(Will the backup car be ready tomorrow?): “I don’t know.”
(About progress today before accident): “It felt much better than yesterday. Definitely we were moving in the right direction. Small steps that we learned today that hopefully we can bring for next time. I’m sorry for the guys.”
(How do you stay calm in the next 24 hours knowing what kind of work needs to be done to fix the car?): “Nothing you can do. These things happen in motorsport. Better today than on the 26th. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”