The Arrow McLaren IndyCar team head to Barber Motorsports Park this weekend following the news that Pato O’Ward, driver of the No.5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet has award the win at the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg presented by RP Funding.
The news came on Wednesday after Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin were disqualified while Will Power was docked ten championship points for illegal use of P2P in St Pete last month.
Pato O’Ward heads to Alabama having won here in 2022 and looking ahead to the race he says:
I’ve had a lot of success at Barber, not just in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES but pretty much every series that has taken me here, so this track holds a special place in my heart. I always get super excited to go back there, so let’s get on the Barber rollercoaster and make it a good weekend for the team.
Alexander Rossi in the No.7 VELO Chevrolet is looking forward to this weekend saying:
Back to back races make the pain of a difficult weekend disappear pretty quickly. We had a strong test at Barber earlier in the year, so we’ll look to take that positivity into this weekend and generate some positive momentum into the Month of May.”
Thèo Pourchaire, who made his debut in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES in Long Beach with an 11th place finish is looking forward to Barber Motorsports Park saying:
I’m looking forward to racing at Barber and discovering another new track. I have a better understanding of the car and the team entering this weekend compared to last weekend in Long Beach, which should be good. Barber seems like a very different track with more high-speed corners, elevation changes and some blind corners. I think it’ll be a great track and I’m sure I’m going to love it. I hope we can perform better in qualifying this weekend, and I trust the team will put me in a position to do so. Arrow McLaren has done well here in the past, so I’m looking forward to learning from them so we can bring home a good result.
The Frenchman who serves as reserve driver to the Stake F1 Team spoke to Paddock Eye during a conference call on Wednesday he said:
I mean, it was very important for me to have someone like Tony helping me to get used to introduce myself to the team first and to get used to the INDYCAR championship.
I mean, he’s a really talented driver, of course. Experienced driver. He won a lot of races in INDYCAR. He could help me a lot in the simulator as well watching the onboard cameras, telling me what to do, what to avoid also in Long Beach, for example, on a tricky track like Long Beach. He will also help me and it will be useful in Barber because he already drove there. For sure he has experience.
Tony is also a very nice person. He’s like a friend now. It’s super important for me to have him and speak to him, to laugh with him. We are always together. It’s good to be with him.
Speaking to Paddock Eye about the event in Barber and how his experience Racing in Europe will help him this weekend, Pourchaire said:
Yeah, for sure it looks like more European track. I said it before, Silverstone, Spa-Francorchamps, more or less like that. High-speed corners, elevation change.
I mean, it’s a new track for me again. I expect it to be a little bit difficult at the beginning, but I will get used to the track after a few laps.
Driving a car with high downforce in high-speed corners, I know how to do it. But the INDYCAR, I never tried the INDYCAR in those conditions.
Again, I don’t expect myself to be in the top five or top three after the first session. I expect myself to start from, yeah, a good pace, follow my teammate datas and work with them, work with the team, build a strong weekend from practice one. That’s the key for me, yeah.
Arrow McLaren Team Principal Gavin Ward says:
Going to Barber this weekend presents some great opportunities for us. It gives us the chance to move on quickly from a mixed race in Long Beach, and we get to compete at a track we’ve been quick at historically. Pato has a win here and I’m confident we can fight for the win this weekend. Rossi topped the times on a very productive test day we had at Barber. And finally, we are all very excited to see what Theo can do in his 2nd race weekend in IndyCar after a strong debut last weekend.”