Meyer Shank Racing had a difficult GMR Grand Prix of Indianapolis on the IMS road course on Saturday. Starting the 85-lap race from 19th place but came home in 25th place
A steady run on the red-walled intermediate Firestone tires saw Pagenaud running 14th as he made his third and final stop with 27 laps to go. Unfortunately, on his way to rejoin the fray, an issue with the right-rear wheel nut left the MSR car stranded on pit lane, leaving him to finish 25th.
Speaking following the action, the Frenchman said:
“I really enjoyed todays race, there were a lot of strategy calls especially when it came to tires and I feel like we made all the right decisions. We started the race on the reds and pitted early for the harder compound. We were climbing towards the top ten, but unfortunately on our last pit stop we has a mechanical issue on the right rear tire and sadly we had to park the car at the end of pit lane. Quite unfortunate end to a great day, it was great work from the whole team. Now I just focus on the Indianapolis 500 and practice starting on Tuesday. It’s out number one goal to win that race and I look forward to being back at the speedway.”
Helio Castroneves started the race from 26th place and made up four positions and came home in 22nd place and speaking following the action he commented saying:
“Today was tough for sure. We really struggled on the [Firestone] reds today, it was just hard to get a good balance going. I actually felt pretty good at the end, and was running up the field, but another car pushed me wide and I lot a few positions. Although this isn’t the race that we wanted, now we are here to focus on the best race of the season, the Indy 500.”