Arrow McLaren Team Principal Gavin Ward says that the weather conditions at Road America during qualifying for the XPEL Grand Prix were tricky.
Obviously, the conditions were tricky out there. I don’t think we quite maximized our potential, but at the end of the day, we can race from where we are. There are plenty of good cars that are starting around where we are. We’ll focus on the long game and the championship.”
Alexander Rossi in the No.7 VELO Chevrolet starts the race from ninth with a time of 02:00.9035s and speaking following the action he said:
The track was getting drier as the session went on, but it certainly didn’t dry as quickly as any of us expected. I think we just missed the balance a little bit as it dried up. We were a really strong car when it was properly wet. We didn’t have the overall balance that we needed, but regardless, it was a really good job by the No. 7 VELO Arrow McLaren Chevrolet team. These sort of sessions are always tricky. We can fight from P9, and we’ll see what we can learn in warm up because we certainly have a lot of work to do.”
Pato O’Ward in the No.5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet starts 11th with a time of 02:01.5141s and speaking following the action he said:
It was a slippery day today, both in practice and qualifying. I thought we had a little bit more pace to find, maybe even enough for the Firestone Fast 6. We just got stuck there a little bit in Round 2 and couldn’t really get what we needed from the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. We’ll have to work hard and see what we can do tomorrow to make our way forward.”
Thèo Pourchaire in the No.6 onsemi Chevrolet starts the race from 18th with a time of 02:02.1745 and speaking following the action he said:
I’m disappointed because I feel like I had the pace today to possibly make my first Firestone Fast 6. We had a few issues, and that’s tough because the No. 6 onsemi Arrow McLaren Chevrolet was great in those conditions. It will be difficult to start so far back on this track, but we have the race tomorrow to move forward. I’m still learning, but I think I drove pretty well. We just need to communicate better and we will get the results we’re looking for.”