Andretti Global Chief Operations Officer Rob Edwards says that the opening qualifying session of the 2024 season at the Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg presented by RP Funding was a mixed day for the now three-car team.
“It was a mixed day. We were quickest in practice this morning with Colton and I really felt that any of our three cars had a chance at pole, so it was disappointing not to get pole. But at the same time, between Colton, Felix and Marcus – collectively with MSR – having three cars in the Firestone Fast Six is something to be proud of for everyone on the team and everyone involved in the effort. We can go racing from there.”
Colton Herta in the No.26 Gainbridge Honda starts Sunday’s race from fourth place with a time of 59.8189s and speaking following the action he commented saying:
“We thought our call to do the Firestone Fast Six on primary tires was right, but it’s tough to say. We were struggling a little bit on greens compared to most people, so we wanted to do something a little bit different to give ourselves a shot. I don’t know where we would have ended up had we done differently. I’m happy to start up front in fourth. It’s a nice place to start off the year and we’ll go from there with this Gainbridge Honda.”
Marcus Ericsson will start his first race with Andretti Global from sixth place following a time of 01:03.5583s and speaking following the action he commented saying:
“I should be happy with qualifying – the Delaware Life Honda was really strong in the session. We’ve been struggling a bit in practice and haven’t really found the sweet spot, but the whole crew did a tremendous job to turn things around and give me a really good car for qualifying. We were super good in Q1 and Q2 and then I just didn’t get a lap together in Q3, which is a bit disappointing. But still, P6 in my first qualifying with Andretti is a good start. I started fourth last year, so we have a little more work tomorrow, but we are in the mix and we are definitely going for it. I’m super happy. It’s a great group of people and the team is pushing really hard. It’s going to be a fun year.”
Kyle Kirwood in the No.27 AutoNation Honda starts the race from 18th with a time of 59.9102s and speaking following the action he commented saying:
“I did not finish where we wanted to be, but we feel like we’ve got a good race car. That’s something that we’ve worked on a lot over the off-season, not only for qualifying, but our race pace, so hopefully that pays off tomorrow. We’ll see where we go from there. We’re starting pretty deep in the pack, so you can expect a lot of passes and maybe some different strategy going on with car. We’ll have to see how the start goes and play it by ear to formulate a plan to dig through the field. We are capable of doing it. I trust the guys. Our pit stops have been really good at the shop in the offseason; they’ve worked hard with that. I’ve worked hard stabilizing what we need to do and I think this track suits us.”