Alex Palou in the No.10 The American Legion Chip Ganassi Racing Honda who is the runaway leader of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship heading into the Honda Indy 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sportscar course will start Sunday’s race from fourth place.
The Spaniard set a fastest time of 01:06.4116s and speaking following the action he said:
I’m really happy, I would say this is my best qualifying here at Mid-Ohio. Last couple of years I wasn’t able to make it to the Fast 6. Only a tenth off, really close, we tried hard, but just missed a little bit on my best lap. Happy to be starting P4 and with 80 laps to go, it’ll be an exciting race tomorrow.”
Scott Dixon in the No.9 PNC Bank Women In Motorsports Honda starts the race from sixth place with a time of 01:06.9281s and speaking following the action he said:
The first sector went really well, but second one was kinda tight. I think the car had better speed. Honestly, I think we just went with the wrong tire strategy at the end there, using maybe the wrong set of reds. It looked like the blacks should have been the way we went, because we ran a lot quicker in Q1 on a new set of blacks. I think that would have got us maybe fighting for the front there. Starting sixth, the car’s got good pace.”
Marcus Ericsson made it through Round 1 of Qualifying before securing P9 on the starting grid aboard the No. 8 Huski Ice Spritz Honda.
Speaking following the action the Swede said:
It’s always so tight in these sessions. Q1 was really good, we were P1 in our group and then we did some small changes for Q2 to predict the track and in hindsight, maybe that wasn’t the best. The car still felt pretty good, I did two clean laps and we were consistent, we were just missing a little bit there in Q2, and in this field that is enough to be bummed unfortunately. We’re always really strong on race day – inside the top 10 is a decent place to start from and we don’t know what the weather will do so we’ll see what is does tomorrow. I’m still confident in the 8 car and the 8 crew – I believe we can move forward
Rookie Marcus Armstrong continued his streak as the top-qualifying rookie in the No. 11 Ridgeline Lubricants Honda and will start Sunday’s race from P18 position.
Speaking following the action the New Zealander said:
“It was a short qauli. Struggling a bit for pace. Felt like my lap wasn’t too bad. It was obviously very close. Felt like I could’ve done better, but I’m still trying to maximize this track. I feel confident now, but for whatever reason that time wasn’t there. Going to be going for gold tomorrow.”