Andretti Global Chief Operating Officer Rob Edwards says that race 1 at the Milwaukee Mile on Saturday was disappointing.
Speaking following the action he said:
Today was a disappointing day for our first race back at the Milwaukee Mile since 2015, especially after clinching the INDY NXT title earlier this afternoon. Colton showed pace immediately out of the gate and quickly moved up the field. The Gainbridge Honda was quick, but unfortunately, an issue in the pits on his final stop led to penalties that put us multiple laps down. Marcus was quick too and seemed on pace to come away with a strong finish, but his incident with Josef put an early end to the Delaware Life Honda’s day. Even though he qualified behind Colton and Marcus, Kyle stayed consistent throughout the race and was able to salvage a finish higher than where he started. We’re definitely leaving Race 1 behind and shifting our focus to a much better day tomorrow for Race 2.”
Colton Herta was issued two penalties after taking emergency repairs when the pits were closed.
He was later given a stop and hold penalty after a wheel came off his No.26 Gainbridge Honda.
Herta, who started the race from tenth came home in 22nd and speaking following the action he said:
Very disappointing day for the Gainbridge Honda. We were very quick, running up at the front for most of the race, and we absolutely had a car to finish on the podium today. We just had an issue there toward the end of the race in the pits that we just couldn’t really recover from, and that was it for us. We’ll refocus and look to redeem ourselves tomorrow.”
Kyle Kirkwood came home in 12th place and speaking following the action he said:
“Not a fantastic day for No. 27 crew. Unfortunately, I missed my marks on the first stop and clipped our fueler, which ultimately gave us a drive-through penalty. We were a lap down, but we played our strategy right, got our lap back and fought our way back up into 12th, which was a decent result after what was seeming to be a terrible day. We know we have a fast race car, and we were happy with our performance on track all day. So, we’ll get it going for tomorrow.”
Marcus Ericsson got caught up in an incident with Josef Newgarden which took both cars out of the race.
“I had the momentum, had the pass going, was side by side into the corner and then I just felt like he [Newgarden] was turning into the corner, and then I couldn’t do much more there. I was just holding my line and he [Newgarden] turned down more and more and pinched me until at some point we touched. The No. 28 Delaware Life Honda was great. I think the team did a really good job and had good pit stops, so it’s a pretty disappointing day for us.”