Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi in the No.6 NTT DATA Chevrolet was left disappointed after a broken steering wheel forced him out of qualifying for today’s Honda Indy Toronto and as a result, the 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner will start the 85-lap race from 26th place on the grid just ahead of Graham Rahal.
”My steering wheel failed in the braking zone, and I didn’t have the ability to shift or pull clutch. I’ve never seen anything like that. It’s a real shame because the car was great and had what we needed to qualify without a problem. We will regroup and be ready to fight from the back tomorrow.”
Pato O’Ward in the No.5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet was able to navigate the treacherous conditions and starts the race from the second row in third place speaking following the action he commented saying:
“That was a gnarly session. That kept me on my toes every single lap. Obviously, it was a drying race track, and it just kept getting better and better. The No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet was feeling good; it was all about having confidence in it and really attacking some of the corners that you didn’t quite know what they had in store. We just kept on pushing, and it’s a second-row start for the team tomorrow. It’s a great starting position to challenge for the podium and the win.”
Felix Rosenqvist in the No.6 SmartStop Arrow McLaren Chevrolet joined Pato O’Ward in the Fast 6 and after setting a time of 01:04.9423s he commented saying:
”It was a hell of a day. That was a lot of work, but we ended up P5 in the end, an amazing recovery from a crash in Practice 2. I sent it in a bit too hard into Turn 5 and hit the wall. I didn’t really hit hard but unfortunately damaged how the front wing came into the tub, so we had to build a brand new car ahead of qualifying. Basically the whole team, the No. 5 and No. 7 crew as well, came out, and there was just like a bee hive around the No. 6 SmartStop Arrow McLaren Chevrolet for three hours between practice and qualifying. We did a seat fit 50 minutes before we jumped in, and we were still doing things for the belts and stuff. To end up in the Firestone Fast 6 and P5 after that was just a huge statement to this whole team, having got together and got it done. It was more work than we needed, but we made it through.”
Rosenqvist will roll off fifth for today’s race. Speaking following the action, Gavin Ward, Race Director with Arrow McLaren said:
“That was a heck of a thrash for the team after Felix had a bit of an off in practice and unfortunately put a hole in the chassis, so we had all hands on deck. We had people jump in from all three crews to get the No. 6 SmartStop Arrow McLaren Chevrolet out there. Felix didn’t disappoint to put it up there in the top five. Two cars in the top five is a great result, but at the end of the day our cars are very strong in the wet, and we had an electrical issue with Alexander’s steering wheel that cost him the chance. I have no doubt that he would have been right up there with them. That’s something we need to learn from and fix, some work to do there that’s the team’s doing. All in all, we’re ready to race tomorrow.”