Andretti Global’s Colton Herta in the No.26 Gainbridge Honda had a great qualifying for the Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg presented by RP Funding as the Californian starts the race from second place.
Sunday’s race marks Herta’s 100th NTT INDYCAR SERIES race start.
I’m super happy with how the Gainbridge Honda performed today in qualifying. We really turned it around after the last two days of practice. I just felt really comfortable with the car in qualifying, and we are in a great starting spot for tomorrow. It’s definitely a place where we can win from, and I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do for the first race of the season.”
Marcus Ericsson in the No.28 Bryant Honda starts seventh and speaking following the action he said:
We’ve had a really strong weekend and the team has done a great job preparing the cars. Our team has been fast in every session. To be honest, it’s pretty disappointing to finish seventh because I think we were capable of doing more. It’s always frustrating to miss out on the Firestone Fast Six, however, I’m looking forward to the race. The No. 28 Bryant Honda can win from there.
Kyle Kirkwood in the No.27 Chili’s Honda starts the race from ninth and speaking following the action he said:
The first qualifying session of the year was not exactly what we hoped for. I thought the No. 27 Chili’s Honda had more potential. We just got caught out on track positioning with other cars. It was a day where you only get one lap to get it done, and our one lap was hindered slightly. However, we’re still in the top nine and you can’t be too mad with that considering how deep this field is. We can definitely do something from there.”
Andretti Global Chief Operating Officer Rob Edwards says:
We’re happy to have all three cars in the top 10 for the first qualifying session of the season. Obviously, we would have liked to have more than one in the Firestone Fast Six, but I think we can get good finishes tomorrow with the starting positions of all three cars. I think tire strategy is going to be a key to getting a good result tomorrow and it will be interesting to see if the field stays mixed up tomorrow.”