Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi in the No.7 VELO Arrow McLaren Chevrolet says that the team did a phenomenal job throughout the month of May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The 2016 Indy 500 winner started Sunday’s race from seventh place and came home in fifth and speaking following the action he said:
First of all, the team did a phenomenal job all month and they have so much to be proud of. Today was just so disappointing. We’re only coming away with a fifth, but we were in a position, at one point, where it looked like the race was in our hands. But through all of those restarts, red flags, and, in my opinion, stupidness, it kind of got away from us. It sucks, but again, the team has done an amazing job all month and it is such a privilege to have such an awesome race car that we can be so upset with fifth.”
In his last ever NTT INDYCAR SERIES race, 2013 Indianapolis 500 champion Tony Kanaan in the No.66 SmartStop Chevrolet came home in 16th place behind his friend Helio Castroneves and speaking following the action he said:
My final NTT INDYCAR SERIES race. I’m thankful and emotional. I’ve got to thank the team, Zak, Gavin, our partners and everyone at Arrow McLaren. I’ve had a blast since day one. It was a good one. To win, we knew it was going to be a risk, but we’re still going to celebrate. I passed on the grass which I haven’t really done before and I think the crowd liked that. We go out in style. Mission accomplished.”
Pato O’Ward who ran up front throughout the day was left disappointed after retiring from the race and was classified in 24th place.
Speaking following the action, O’Ward said:
I’m just sad for the whole team. We had four very fast race cars. Obviously our day ended in a not-so-nice way but it can’t take away from the fact that we were there. We were there in qualifying, we were there in the race, and we continue to push and be contenders every single weekend. I’m proud of everybody. We move on to a new circuit now, and I’m excited for the rest of the season. We’ll have another shot at this one next year.”
Felix Rosenqvist in the No.6 NTT DATA Arrow McLaren Chevrolet had a fantastic race battling for the lead with Pato before he was forced to retire after a spin put him into the wall.
”Not the way we wanted this to end, but it was a good day until that point. I got on the wrong side of the wake and I tried to tuck back into the line, I got passed pretty late, and I just couldn’t get down to the curb. I was then stuck with understeer through the whole corner. I was really close to getting out of it, but eventually the rear came out and hit the wall and damaged the car. Then, I just couldn’t keep it off the wall.
“But we had a hell of a race, man. I’m really proud of my team. The NTT DATA Arrow McLaren Chevrolet was amazing. It’s such a small margin and I came on the wrong side of it. Sorry to my team, we had a hell of a run, but I’m glad everyone is OK. It’s the 500. Sometimes it doesn’t go the way you want.”
Arrow McLaren Race Director Gavin Ward said:
First things first, you have to put everything into perspective today. The most important thing is that everybody gets to go home safe and healthy. We’re remarkably lucky to get to do what we do for a living. Today was a tough day, but I’m super proud of this team. It didn’t go our way, but that’s racing.
“I think with Pato’s incident, as far as I can see, he got alongside Ericsson, Ericsson turned into him and he had nowhere to go. To me, that’s on Ericsson. I think he owes us an apology. For Felix, he got caught up in the dirty air. Again, we’re just happy everyone came out of it safely. With Alexander, I think we want to understand what was going on with some of the restarts. We felt like people were getting jumps on us that were early, but we’ll have to review it. Ultimately, we weren’t quite as good as we wanted to be on that car, but it was a strong day. Finally, with Tony, the car struggled a little bit for pace. Obviously, it wasn’t where we wanted to be, but Tony put together a good finish under the circumstances. He’s been a big help all month long and he is a big part of why the team has done as well as it has. It’s a wonderful finish to a remarkable career, so we’re proud to be part of that.
“We’re ready to go to Detroit, win some races and win a championship.”