AJ Foyt Racing President Larry Foyt says that the team can be pretty happy with their result in qualifying for Santino Ferrucci in the No.14 Sexton Properties Chevrolet as he starts the Sonsio Grand Prix on the IMS road course from 11th place.
Speaking to Paddock Eye on Friday following qualifying, Foyt said that the set-up on the No.14 got away from them a little, and considering that he had a clutch issue, the team is satisfied with the result they achieved.
To bounce back and make the fast 12 is good, I think the car had a little bit more but we just didn’t execute good. It was a good job by everybody to get into the top 12.
When it comes to the race on Saturday, Foyt says that traditionally, the road course is not their strong event, but he feels that they can move forward in the race, and he feels that tire strategy is going to be key.
When it comes to David Malukas, Foyt says that he is still finding his feet and he hopes he can improve in the coming races as they want to be competing mid back or to the front.
When it comes to the Indianapolis 500, Foyt believes that they will be strong there as Santino Ferrucci has been strong in recent years.
Ferrucci starts Saturday’s race from 11th and speaking following the action he said:
Obviously, quite an interesting up and down day. “Had a clutch issue so we missed a good part of FP 1 (Free Practice 1) and almost all of FP 2, but the guys just stuck with it. Had a really good qualifying to get an advance (out of Round 1) but kind of missed it a little bit in the second round. We’ll look back and see kind of why. I definitely left some time on the table in my driving and I just don’t feel like I started the tire very well either. So, kind of bummed not to advance to the Fast Six but we have a good starting spot for tomorrow, and we’ll be good.”
David Malukas starts 26th and speaking following the action he said:
Not much really to say other than it wasn’t good. We kind of knew going into it, the pace wasn’t really there as it was Barber. I think Barber hurt quite a bit, just because we had a very good car, but here, obviously we never really had the confidence all day. Then we came into qualifying, I think that it was just a lot worse than we were even expecting. so not great. We just need to keep our heads down and keep working at it and hopefully find some time.”