The Meyer Shank Racing NTT INDYCAR SERIES team endured a challenging qualifying session for the opening race of the 2023 season, the Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg, presented by RP Funding as Helio Castroneves in the No.06 AutoNation Sirius XM Honda starts the 100-lap race from P15 while his teammate Simon Pagenaud in the No.60 AutoNation Sirius XM Honda starts from P25 respectively.
Speaking following the action, Castroneves commented saying:
“From yesterday to today was a big improvement of course. The interesting thing is with the new rules we can use two different Guayule [alternate] tires in qualifying. I had a huge difference from one set to the other, it was about eight-tenths, which is a big deal. The red flag kind of upset us little bit because we had good momentum. I’ll tell you what, there were a lot of fast cars out there, but it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. Where going to be working hard to get the No. 06 AutoNation, SiriusXM, Arctic Wolf, Cliffs machine up through the field for tomorrow’s race.”
Simon Pagenaud commented on his qualifying by saying:
“Unfortunately it was not the qualifying that I wanted or expected to start the season off. I simply attacked too much. I felt like we were in a bit of a danger zone, so I felt like we really needed to attack and it was just too much for the rear of the car and unfortunately I couldn’t make the corner. Very unfortunate to start at the back of the grid, but the car has felt good all weekend and I think we can have the pace in the race. I look forward to recovering tomorrow.”