Oliver Askew in the No.45 Hy-Vee Honda equalled his best qualifying performance at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey as he will start the event from fifth place with a time of 01:11.8937s.
Speaking following the action he said:
Fantastic qualifying here today for the Hy-Vee No. 45 guys from Rahal Letterman Lanigan. I felt really good in the car and the car complimented me as well and when you get it right around here it feels really good, when you get it wrong not as much. Today we got it right. It was a really enjoyable session and I’m looking forward to starting in the top-five tomorrow. Hopefully we have a strong run. I’m very happy with that run and obviously really happy for Hy-Vee No. 45 Honda guys and everyone at Rahal Letterman Lanigan. This is exactly what we needed – a good starting spot for tomorrow here is extremely important because, as we know, it is difficult to pass.”
Graham Rahal in the No.15 United Rentals Honda hopes he can push his way into the top-five on Sunday as they showed great pace.
Rahal ended the day in 12th having spun in Group 1 and set a 01:12.5932s and speaking following the action he said:
Qualifying is in the books here in Laguna Seca. I clearly spun in Group 2 and we were actually on pace to advance without a problem. That’s on me you know, I was just pushing hard and it just tracked out up Turn 6 and the car bottomed on the curb, and that was it. We just lost control. Unfortunately, we just have to focus on tomorrow. We’re going to start 12th. It was nice to advance to Q2, we were in a pretty stacked first group so to be able to get through was a great sign. We’ve got to keep our heads down and focus on what we’ve got to do tomorrow. It’s going to be a tough day. Tire deg (degradation) is going to be a major issue and hopefully we can sneak up there into the top five.”
Takuma Sato in the No.30 Panasonic MiJack Honda starts the race from 23rd place with a time of 01:12.1443s.
Speaking following the action he said:
Qualifying didn’t go well at all, it was tough. We had a little difficulty in practice and weren’t really able to carry on the performance in qualifying. We predicted the direction we wanted and that was opposite of what it has been in qualifying. It was a pity but at least the teammates made a pretty good qualifying so we can share some things and figure out what we can do tomorrow. But today we had a really tough day.”