Andretti Autosport Chief Operating Officer Rob Edwards says the team is disappointed with where they qualified for this weekend’s 107th running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. Speaking ahead of Carb Day, Edwards said:
“We are obviously disappointed with our qualifying positions for the Indy 500. Despite a huge effort from many people, we came up short and we will be taking that as extra motivation to get things right next year. Fortunately, the group practice to date suggests that we are in much better shape in race trim and we are confident that Kyle, Romain, Colton, Marco and Devlin can move forward over the 500 miles. It’s a long race and we will all work together to achieve a result for the team and our partners.”
Kyle Kirkwood in the No.27 AutoNation Honda is the highest placed Andretti driver starting the Greatest Spectacle In Racing from 15th place following a four-lap average speed of 232.662MPH and speaking ahead of this weekend’s race, he said:
“At the end of the day, we were happy with our performance at qualifying. It’s not the pace and exactly what we wanted, but we know that the No. 27 AutoNation Honda is strong. Qualifying isn’t the biggest thing here because there are about five stops, so anything can happen at the Indy 500. This race is our biggest focus of the year and why all of us drivers race in INDYCAR.”
Romain Grosjean in the No.28 DHL Honda starts his second Indy 500 from 19th place just behind the driver he replaced at Andretti, Ryan Hunter-Reay. The Frenchman who set a speed of 231.997MPH commented saying:
“The results were disappointing with qualifying. If you look at everything we did during the qualifying runs, it was as good as it was going to get. We just didn’t have the speed. I think that’s what we need to figure out and hopefully improve that. The Month of May is different from any other. You do not know the Indianapolis 500 until you’ve lived it.”
Colton Herta in the No.26 Gainbridge Honda starts the race from 21st place with a speed of 231.951MPH and speaking ahead of the action he commented saying:
“We left off at a fairly good spot during qualifying, but there is still more to come with the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda as we head toward race day. The race is what matters, so we’ll focus on that. What we’ve seen from the Indy 500 is that you can race from anywhere.”
Marco Andretti in the No.98 KULR / Curb Honda starts the race from 24th place with speed of 231.682MPH and speaking ahead of this weekend’s race he said:
“I think we are in a good position for the Indy 500. This is the third year in the row with no track position, but if it’s able to materialize with strategy, I think we have a car to stay there. It just gets pretty tough to pass three or four back, but it is 500 miles and we’ve seen this race end up crazy. We’re ready to fight and we have a car to fight.”
Devlin DeFrancesco qualified in 26th place and speaking ahead of the race this weekend he said:
“We saw during the last few days of practice and qualifying that we didn’t quite have the speed we were expecting in the No. 29 Sodexo Honda. That’s how it goes sometimes. The most important thing is the race this weekend. It’s a long race and anything can happen at the Indy 500.”