Category: NTT Indy

INDIANAPOLIS (Thursday, May 18, 2023) – If practice Thursday is any indication, Marcus Ericsson could start the defense of his 2022 Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge victory from the front of the field.

Ericsson turned the top lap, 39.1974 seconds, 229.607 mph, during the six-hour session under sunny skies at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the No. 8 Huski Ice Spritz Honda fielded by Chip Ganassi Racing. It was the fastest lap so far in two days of on-track activity this week, topping the 229.439 set Wednesday by Ericsson’s teammate and two-time Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato.

Not only was Ericsson fastest overall with the benefit of an aerodynamic tow, but he also was the speediest car running alone, with a best “no-tow” lap of 224.414.

“A really good day for the whole Chip Ganassi team,” Ericsson said. “Yesterday we worked a lot on the race cars. We were good straight away. Then today we built on that.

“I think we did some changes overnight that helped me in my feeling in the car. Felt really happy with my race car. The organization has done a really good job again this year, with really good cars.”

2008 Indianapolis 500 winner Scott Dixon ended up second at 229.186 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, as CGR went 1-2 on the time sheets for the second straight day.

The top four drivers today all are past “500” champions, as 2019 winner Simon Pagenaud was third at 228.681 in the No. 60 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda fielded by Meyer Shank Racing. 2018 winner and reigning series champion Will Power was fourth at 228.577 in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. Power also was second fastest on the “no-tow” list, running 224.283 alone on the 2.5-mile oval.

Colton Herta rounded out the top five overall at 228.240 in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda fielded by Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian.

All 34 drivers competing for 33 spots in the starting field combined to turn 3,159 laps (7,897.5 miles) today in air temperatures that reached the low 80s.

Speeds will jump during the next practice from noon-6 p.m. ET Friday. The Honda and Chevrolet engines that power the field will feature approximately 100 more horsepower due to increased boost levels that also will be available during PPG Presents Armed Forces Qualifying on Saturday and Sunday. Public gates open at 10 a.m. for “Fast Friday.”

The 107th Indianapolis 500 is scheduled for Sunday, May 28 (11 a.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, Universo, INDYCAR Radio Network). PPG Presents Armed Forces Qualifying is Saturday, May 20 and Sunday, May 21.

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
INDIANAPOLIS 500
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
TEAM CHEVY PRACTICE REPORT
MAY 17, 2023

SANTINO FERRUCCI AND THE NO. 14 AJ FOYT RACING TEAM LEAD TEAM CHEVY AT THE FIRST INDIANAPOLIS 500 PRACTICE DAY AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Santino Ferrucci, in the No. 14 Homes for Our Troops Chevrolet with AJ Foyt Racing led the Bowtie brand at the conclusion of first on-track practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with his fastest speed of 228.977 MPH.
Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay led the no-tow speed of the day at 223.212 MPH, followed by his teammate and team owner Ed Carpenter at 222.341 MPH. Will Power rounded out the top three no-tow speeds and giving Team Chevy a sweep of the first three spots with his lap at 221.803 MPH.
Four Chevrolets finished in the top-10 of first practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with four drivers representing three teams.
RC Enerson, in the No. 50 Abel Motorsports Chevrolet, completed his rookie orientation and officially becomes the 34th entry for the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500.

TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 PRACTICE RESULT:
Pos. Driver

3rd Santino Ferrucci
5th Scott McLaughlin
8th Ryan Hunter-Reay
9th Josef Newgarden

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (QUOTES)

Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:

“After the Open Test, I don’t think we were feeling too strong, so to roll out of the box here and after the first few laps in the car, I just got out and said hey, look, the car’s good. We just broke for lunch, went down for a couple of hours to get things sorted, but the raw speed of the car out of the box was phenomenal. To make two or three small changes, a couple of little aero or ride height things, you’re not looking at mind-blowing reinventing-the-wheel changes. By the time we were done, we went out with new tires and even passed some cars. We were just working on trying to follow closer, and the lap time was there. To be the fastest Chevy in the No. 14 is pretty cool. Start the month of May off, and we just have to carry the momentum.”

Talk about some of the passing and gains you feel like you made today…

“I’ve said this all year, and I feel Chevys have been really good on top-end. And I felt that not just on the ovals, but on the road courses as well. So, I think today to be in your fastest lap and then pass a car, and almost pass another into Turn 1, on the same second half of the track is pretty impressive and pretty stout. I feel really comfortable being in the Chevy for the top-end wise this year, especially in race trim. I’d like to see if we can obviously bring home the Borg Warner (trophy) for Chevy. That’d be pretty awesome and spectacular for our team.”

Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 23 Chevrolet at Dreyer & Reinbold Racing:

“Today was a very productive day for us. We got through a lot of the checklist we hoped to. We lost a little bit yesterday with rainout. But the car has some good speed in it. We have some things to sort out tomorrow. I am cautiously optimistic with it. We are keeping our heads down and working hard. The track conditions were good today, not too hot. Track temperature got up a bit in the afternoon and the surface got greasy. It was beautiful day to be at the Speedway. We expect it to be much hotter and more difficult on race day. We are looking forward to Thursday’s action.”

Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Chevrolet at Team Penske:

“Felt really good in the No. 2 car. I think most of us here at Team Penske were really happy with the progress we made. It was a good, clean day all six hours which was welcome after yesterday’s rain. Feeling good, confident in the Shell car. Just need to keep it up. This weekend, we’re really going to find out where we’re at. A lot of work to do, but stay tuned with us.”

Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Chevrolet at Team Penske:

“Awesome to get back on track in the Pennzoil Chevy. The yellow sub is always a crowd favorite, but yeah, really good day for us. We ticked a lot of boxes. Don’t know where we are speed-wise right now, but every time we wanted to do some speed, we managed to do a reasonable time. It feels nice. We’ll see what we’ve got for the rest of the week.”

Will Power, No. 12 Chevrolet at Team Penske:

“We got through a bunch of stuff early in the session, working on qualifying configurations. We felt really happy about that. We got three good race runs in after that and the Verizon Chevy was really good. It’s the first day and we have a lot more on our list to work through, but it’s hard to say this wasn’t a good first day here at Indy.”

Conor Daly, No. 20 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:

“Today was interesting and we worked through a lot of our list today. We got in over 120 laps today which is nice on the first day. We are decent in traffic which will come in handy on race day. Looking forward to getting back tomorrow and working some more.”

Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:

“Today was good, then it was bad and then it was good again. That is Indy for you. Overall, today was productive. We tried a lot of stuff on the No. 21 BITNILE.COM Chevrolet and at the end of the day we found the speed for traffic runs. Of course, being on top of the no-tow is always a plus.”

Ed Carpenter, No. 33 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:

“We had a pretty productive day. I would have liked to be up a little higher on the timesheet – just for egotistical reasons, but it felt productive. We worked through some things with our race trim that we wanted to investigate further after the Open Test. I am excited to get back to debrief and look through everything. There are thousands of configurations now with the new downforce options we have this year. We are a lot more competitive than what the big board says today.”

Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

“Today was interesting and we worked through a lot of our list today. We got in over 120 laps today which is nice on the first day. We are decent in traffic which will come in handy on race day. Looking forward to getting back tomorrow and working some more.”

Felix Roseqvist, No. 6 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

”It was good to get some actual runs in. They were mostly error runs in the beginning with a little race running in the end, but that was fun. I think we’re in a good window. We had some issues in the end; we couldn’t do a full run and we had to do a couple pit stops. I think we’re pretty much where we left off last year. It’s very tight. We want to catch the Ganassis, they were really strong last year and they continue to be strong. We have to bridge that gap, but otherwise, we feel really strong. I think we’re in the mix.”

Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

”It was a good day, lot of laps ran. We’re still learning, but a lot of positives to take from today, and we’re happy with where we are. We’ll just continue to work tomorrow.”

Tony Kanaan, No. 66 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

”Good day for us, we did almost a hundred laps trying to make big changes, changes that take a lot of time to figure out, so from tomorrow on it’s just going to be tweaking the car. All in all, an awesome day for the No. 66 team. I think the whole team looked pretty strong, we did a lot of laps, and now on to tomorrow.”

Gavin Ward, Race Director at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

“Strong first day running for the team. We’re focused on our own program here, a lot of race prep work. We’re pretty pleased with everything, got through a lot of tests today and we have a lot of data to chew through this evening. The drivers all seem reasonably comfortable for day one on track. Looking at the notes, we’re pretty happy where we sit. It’s always hard to judge around this place, but so far so good.”

Agustin Canapino, No. 78 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:

“We did some laps in a big pack. It was really, really good. Of course, it’s tough. It’s really difficult, but at the end of the day, I think we had a good first day for us.”

Stefan Wilson, No. 24 Chevrolet at Dreyer & Reinbold Racing:

“We finished day two of practice which was really day one after Tuesday’s rainout. It was a very solid day in the No. 24 Cusick Motorsports/CareKeepers Chevy. We just worked on race setup today and focused on the race car to make it better each time out. We tried things in traffic and found some things that worked well and some which didn’t work. We are now going through all of the data that was accumulated today. We are accessing some of the changes we made and see where we can improve. We’ll look at some of the things we want to try later in the week too. Overall, it was good first day for the team.”

RC Enerson, No. 50 Chevrolet at Abel Motorsports:

“We finally concluded day two, but day one got washed out on us. We finally got a chance to run ROP and went through that pretty flawlessly. Got to finally come our for our practice at the end of the day here. We’d come to the garage, and lost a bit of time there trying to get gears changed and all of that. But we finally got back out, got to see what our single car speed is like. Got to dabble a little bit in traffic, which I think that’s something that’s going to have to get more comfortable for me. Overall, a pretty productive day.”

SANTINO FERRUCCI, NO. 14 CHEVROLET AT AJ FOYT RACING, AND RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 CHEVROLET AT ED CARPENTER RACING – End of Day Press Conference:

MODERATOR: We are joined by Rinus VeeKay, driver of the No. 21 Bitnile.com Chevrolet for Ed Carpenter Racing, the top no-tow speed today at 223.212 miles an hour, pretty important as you look ahead to qualifying this weekend Saturday and Sunday, and also Santino Ferrucci, 228.977 miles an hour in the 14 Sexton Properties Chevrolet for AJ Foyt Racing. Rinus, overall your thoughts on your day today, P1 on the no-tow.

RINUS VEEKAY: “Yeah, it was a good day, good to be out here, and got that first day over with.

It was pretty good, good no-tow speeds. We think there’s still a lot more in it, so that’s a good sign, but also mostly the focus all afternoon has been race running, just making sure the car is good enough for the race, getting behind the backup cars, and yeah, we found out a lot about bad and good changes.”

THE MODERATOR: “Santino, you’ve always been good at the speedway. I’m thinking back a couple years ago, a fourth here in 2020. You liked your car so far today, so far this month?”

SANTINO FERRUCCI: “It sure looks like that. We didn’t really change much today, just a couple small things. We rolled out actually — we weren’t strong on the open test at all, but we didn’t really have everything together, and to have all that extra day, especially the rain day yesterday to roll out today and to immediately just be comfortable was really, really nice. I haven’t been this comfortable in a couple of years.”

Q. Santino, obviously it’s hard to know what everybody else is doing up and down the pit lane and it’s probably difficult to know where you should exactly be on the leaderboard, but I guess are you feeling very confident after today’s run?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: “Yeah, no, we’re in full race trim, nose down, rear wing is pretty stacked on there.

Honestly, we were looking for a tow lap like everybody else. What I didn’t expect was to be passing people in that lap, and to be able to follow as closely as we did because we did make a change before we put the set of stickers on because the left rear is a little bit softer this year, so with the track being as green as it is, they’re not quite lasting as long as we probably would have liked the first day, but expect that to obviously change.

No, I’m pretty comfortable, and this is definitely a car that I can see not needing too much adjustments for next Sunday. It’s nice to see that.”

Q. For both of you, we know one car is going home. Does that fact add any tension to the briefings or anything else, or is it just business as usual, we’re not going to worry about it, we’re just going to do what we do?

RINUS VEEKAY: “Not for us. I think ECR is not going to be worried.”

SANTINO FERRUCCI: “I don’t know, I don’t ever give it any thought.”

SANTINO FERRUCCI: “If you go back a couple years, maybe 20 years ago, there was like 40 of them. I think that would make people more stressful. I think one is what it is.”

Q. Rinus, you led last year’s first practice on the no-tow chart, too. Is that something you work on as a team on the first day, and can you really gain anything by working on your qualifying stuff?

RINUS VEEKAY: “It’s good to get a feel on it. It feels like far away, but in two days we’re at Fast Friday.

It’s good to get a feel for it, get some data on a lower downforce trim, see what that gives us, and where the balance migrates. It’s good to be fast on my own. It’s a consistent battle to be faster in a group of cars because things change all the time and one little change can make a lot of difference, but just raw pace, you don’t find that with the quick change.”

Q. Rinus and Santino, Conor was talking this morning about how you guys have lacked grip, you just don’t have the pace so far this season. It’s been a tough season, that you needed a good two weeks here. What’s this season been like, and how does it feel to have the fastest non-tow speed on day one?

RINUS VEEKAY: “It’s definitely been my hardest season so far. It’s been a struggle, but we keep working, and hopefully we can find back that pace.

This might be the turnaround. I know we have a fast car here. It showed again today. The whole team does. And of course driving we get a bit more data, and hopefully it just lifts up the spirits of the team and hopefully we nail that setup coming to road and street courses later in the season, and yeah, hopefully it gets better. That’s the goal.”

Q. Did you have this circled as sort of like hey, Indy 500, I’ve qualified well there, I know we’re good there, we’re good on ovals? Through the road and street courses where you guys were struggling, were you looking at this as a place could you make your speed?

RINUS VEEKAY: “Definitely. One thing is for certain, ECR has fast cars on the speedway. That makes me excited, but also it’s just nice to really only have to fine tune the car, not the little details, because we’re already right at the top.

It feels really good, but it’s Indy; we keep working on the car, and one day is good, the other might be worse, and it’s a roller coaster always. Don’t be too relaxed; tomorrow is another day, and only on Saturday and Sunday it counts this week.”

Q. Santino, you said you haven’t felt this kind of comfort in two years or whatever, and I saw Larry Foyt and some other people out there smiling. What’s it meant for the team to just have day like this where things are clicking when they haven’t that much this year?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: “I think a lot of people know that this year at the team there’s been a lot of changes, a lot of personal changes, and I’m commenting as the veteran driver. With Michael Cannon coming in, a lot of his focus has been put towards this race and the second half of the season. I think we actually showed quite a bit of speed in the GP, especially for the race, to go from last up to about 13th before we had a small issue.

I think our season is going to turn around hopefully starting with this race. But it’s not for lack of trying. We’ve definitely had some really good pace and results up to certain points that I think people can see if they pay attention.

No, it’s just keeping our heads down, and today I think was a huge relief because we didn’t really know what we were going to have, and to just roll out and be straight comfortable, I don’t know, I don’t feel like that’s something we’re going to lose this month.

I think the team is really proud of themselves. I’m really proud of the team. We’ll just keep the Homes for Troops car up there.”

Q. Along those lines, AJ said he really didn’t want to come this month, but then he decided it would get his mind off of things. A day like today probably makes him pretty happy. I don’t know what kind of conversations you’ve had with him, if any, since he’s arrived, but —

SANTINO FERRUCCI: “Yeah, no, I think it was good to see him in the GP, in the stand, and I think obviously we were having a really good day. He was really happy to see that. I think he’s happy to see the program coming along.

I know for a fact in the garage on Sunday and on Monday he was really, really happy to see the car and to see the progress, to see I think something he hasn’t seen out of this team in a long time as far as build quality and all of the work that’s gone into it and all of the development that’s gone towards this car. He’s super excited, so I think to have a day like today to back that up is huge.

It’s a huge confidence boost for the whole organization, for the sponsors, for everybody, and to be honest with you, I think to maintain it, it’s difficult. It’s the most difficult race of the year. It’s very stressful, ever-changing.

But I think we’ll be able to stay somewhere in that really top realm. I think the Ganassi cars are obviously really, really good and competitive, and I think that’s what we’re going to strive to get to.”

Q. Do you feel like you need to do that for AJ?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: “I feel like yeah, I feel like it’s definitely — I wouldn’t say need. I feel like it’s kind of deserved to see that. Yeah.”

.

Q. Santino, Michael Cannon is widely respected in this business. Talk just a little bit about your working relationship and how that’s been to date for you.

SANTINO FERRUCCI: “Yeah, you know, I met Michael Cannon in 2018 when I came into the sport and worked with him as a young driver and as a rookie and in my first rookie season in 2019. To be honest, we finished seventh here as Rookie of the Year, then we went on to have three fourth-place finishes and almost a win at Gateway.

He’s just someone that I grew really close to, and we had a lot of success for me, who’s never really seen any of the tracks before and didn’t grow up in the Indy Lights series. So speaking with him this winter and getting him — before I did anything in my career, I’d always talk to him, moving forward with my path, because he’s someone that I’ve always trusted.

So given that opportunity for the stars to align at AJ Foyt, it was really cool that he wanted to come on board, work together again, and try and get some of that unfinished business out of the way a couple of the races that we felt like we gave away in ’19, particularly this being one of them that we knew we had a hell of a car back then, and we were definitely in contention to win, I just had no idea what I was doing as a rookie.

But the dynamic is awesome. Seeing him in the team working with my race engineer Daniele and with Benjamin’s race engineer Roberto has been phenomenal, and a lot of his focus is taking the pressure off of those guys and doing different things and working in different areas so they can focus on the day-to-day tasks with the race car.

It’s paying off. I think we do show a lot of success in the races regardless where the results say we are, and I think coming here where Mike has put a lot of his efforts into this car, today I think it shows.”

About Chevrolet

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 79 countries with more than 3.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2020. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

INDIANAPOLIS (Wednesday, May 17, 2023) – Past winners Takuma Sato and Scott Dixon both topped 229 mph as Chip Ganassi Racing drivers took four of the top seven spots on the speed chart in the first day of practice Wednesday for the 107th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.

Two-time “500” winner Sato led with a top lap of 39.2261 seconds, 229.439 mph in the No. 11 Deloitte Honda, turned in the final two hours under sunny skies and air temperatures in the mid-70s. 2008 Indy 500 winner Dixon was second at 229.174 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda on a lap turned in the first 10 minutes of the day.

This is Sato’s first “500” outing with the powerful Ganassi team. He won the race in 2017 with Andretti Autosport and in 2020 with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

“The organization is very impressive,” Sato said. “Everything is in the right place and the right people. They use their resources and make the most of it. Preparation is simply impressive.

“Today on the track, all four drivers divided a few different programs. I wasn’t particularly happy with the kind of sensation I was getting in the morning. We’re just working on what’s the best way. In the afternoon, the group run by Ganassi was a great hint for me about what needs to be done. We went for it, and we had a big tow, and that’s why we have a very successful platform right now.”

Santino Ferrucci was third at 228.977 in the No. 14 Homes For Our Troops Chevrolet fielded by AJ Foyt Racing. 2021 NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion and current series points leader Alex Palou was fourth at 228.720 in the No. 10 The American Legion Honda fielded by Chip Ganassi Racing.

Scott McLaughlin was fifth at 228.473 in the No. 3 Pennzoil Team Penske Chevrolet. Reigning “500” winner Marcus Ericsson rounded out the four-car Chip Ganassi Racing team in seventh at 227.701 in the No. 8 Huski Ice Spritz Honda.

RC Enerson completed the three-phase Rookie Orientation Program in the No. 50 Abel Motorsports Chevrolet, as all 34 entries combined to turn 3,455 laps (8,637.5 miles) in the busy, six-hour session after Opening Day was rained out Tuesday.

Practice resumes from noon-6 p.m. ET Thursday. Public gates open at 10 a.m.

The 107th Indianapolis 500 is scheduled for Sunday, May 28 (11 a.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, Universo, INDYCAR Radio Network). PPG Presents Armed Forces Qualifying is Saturday, May 20 and Sunday, May 21.

News from Abel Motorsports

WET WEATHER THE BIG WINNER ON OPENING DAY AT INDY

-ABEL MOTORSPORTS GAINS GROUND DESPITE DAMP CONDITIONS-

(May 16, 2023) SPEEDWAY, In- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

IndyCar’s newest team, ABEL Motorsports, based in Louisville, KY, had expected to put their newly updated Chevy/Dallara Indy 500 entry on track today for the first time. But a damp, soggy day forced IndyCar officials to scrub all on-track activity Tuesday, postponing the start of Indy 500 practice until Wednesday May 17 at noon ET.

That delay though could well prove beneficial to the ABEL team and driver RC Enerson. Enerson needs to complete an on-track refresher session at the wheel of the red and white #50 car before being cleared to practice and qualify for the 107th Indy 500 this weekend.

If Tuesday had run as scheduled, that wouldn’t have been possible and the team would have missed the first practice period. Now, with the rainout, Enerson will get his refresher laps in Wednesday morning and should be good to go with the rest of the 34 500 entries starting at noon.

“Today was one of those classic “sit and wait” days. It’s not a day we like. But I think it might be a blessing in disguise, because I’ll get to do my refresher in the morning and we should be good to go after that”, commented the 26-year-old Floridian. Enerson attempted to qualify for the Indy 500 two years ago but feels this year’s effort at the wheel of the ABEL Motorsports entry is a much better opportunity.

Team Manager John Brunner was disappointed with the rainout as well. “We would have liked to have had our install lap today, but nobody got to run. We didn’t lose any track time to anyone today. I like what they’ve done with the schedule for tomorrow. We’ll get the (ROP) refresher done in the morning and then we can run all day with everybody. I like where we’re sitting.”

Team Principal Bill Abel is just looking forward to seeing the red and white #50 car get on track. “For us (the rain) allowed us to get a few additional things done on the car that we needed to do. We went through tech (inspection) and we went back through tech again, which let us correct a couple of things we needed to fix. It just slowed things down a bit for us, kind of a reset time for us that’s probably good.”

Abel is also soaking in the atmosphere of the Indy 500 for the first time as a competitor. “For me it’s so unbelievable. It still doesn’t feel real to me. It’s such a cool thing, such a cool place to be. I can’t thank John Brunner, Neil Enerson, and RC enough for helping give us the chance to do this.”

ABEL Motorsports will be in action tomorrow, Wednesday May 17th starting at 10am. Official practice begins at Noon ET, with all sessions being streamed live on Peacock TV.

INDIANAPOLIS (Monday, May 15, 2023) – The time has come for the stars of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES to embark on a legacy-defining month as preparations get underway for the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on May 28.

There are 34 entries set to contest the 33 starting spots for this year’s edition of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” including nine former winners.

Marcus Ericsson delivered a composed performance last year by fending off a late charge by Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren to claim his maiden “500” win, which gave team owner Chip Ganassi his fifth victory in the race as a sole team owner. Other former winners aiming for a spot in the race this year include four-time winner Helio Castroneves (2001, 2002, 2009, 2021) and two-time winner Takuma Sato (2017, 2020), plus single winners Scott Dixon (2008), Tony Kanaan (2013), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2014), Alexander Rossi (2016), Will Power (2018) and Simon Pagenaud (2019). The record for winners in one field is 10, set in 1992.

Castroneves earned a spot with A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears in the most prestigious club in motorsports – four-time winners of the Indianapolis 500 – with his emotional victory May 30, 2021, in the No. 06 AutoNation/Sirius XM Honda fielded by Meyer Shank Racing. A record-breaking fifth would put Castroneves alone at the top with most victories. Additionally, Castroneves and Kanaan are both 48 years old, and a victory by either would make them the oldest winner in “500” history, a record held by Al Unser, who won the 1987 edition just five days shy of his 48th birthday.

Ericsson has a chance to become the first back-to-back winner since Castroneves accomplished the feat in 2001 and 2002. If Ericsson secures a repeat win, he would earn a bonus of $420,000 courtesy of BorgWarner, the namesake of the Indy 500 trophy. That amount is more than the entire yearly purse up to and including the 50th anniversary of the “500” in 1961, which paid out $397,910. The field payout jumped to $425,652 in 1962.

The field includes seven past INDYCAR SERIES champions: Dixon, Hunter-Reay, Kanaan, Josef Newgarden, Pagenaud, Alex Palou and Power.

Katherine Legge makes her long-awaited return to Indianapolis Motor Speedway this month, having last raced in the Indianapolis 500 in 2013. A two-time starter of the historic race, she will drive a one-off entry as the fourth car for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Simona de Silvestro was the last female to drive in the race, in 2021.

There will be four drivers competing for top rookie honors, featuring multiple Argentina touring car champion Agustín Canapino, along with last year’s INDY NXT by Firestone race winners Benjamin Pedersen and Sting Ray Robb. RC Enerson, who narrowly missed making the field of 33 in 2021, is back for another run but this time with Abel Motorsports, an INDY NXT by Firestone team making its first attempt at the “500.”

Practice opens Tuesday, May 16 and runs through Friday, May 19. PPG Presents Armed Forces Qualifying is scheduled for Saturday, May 20 and Sunday, May 21, followed by a two-hour practice Monday, May 22. The traditional final practice, two hours again this year on Miller Lite Carb Day, will be held Friday, May 26.

Live Race Day coverage begins on NBC, Telemundo Deportes on Universo and the INDYCAR Radio Network at 11 a.m. (ET), with the green flag set for 12:45 p.m.

2023 ENTRY BREAKDOWN:

Winners (9): Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Marcus Ericsson, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Tony Kanaan, Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Alexander Rossi, Takuma Sato

Rookies (4): Agustín Canapino, RC Enerson, Benjamin Pedersen, Sting Ray Robb

U.S. drivers (13): Marco Andretti, Ed Carpenter, Conor Daly, RC Enerson, Santino Ferrucci, Colton Herta, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Kyle Kirkwood, David Malukas, Josef Newgarden, Graham Rahal, Sting Ray Robb, Alexander Rossi

International drivers (21, from 14 countries): Agustín Canapino, Helio Castroneves, Devlin DeFrancesco, Scott Dixon, Marcus Ericsson, Romain Grosjean, Jack Harvey, Callum Ilott, Tony Kanaan, Katherine Legge, Christian Lundgaard, Scott McLaughlin, Pato O’Ward, Simon Pagenaud, Alex Palou, Benjamin Pedersen, Will Power, Felix Rosenqvist, Takuma Sato, Rinus VeeKay, Stefan Wilson

Engines (34): Honda 17, Chevrolet 17 (all cars use Dallara chassis and Firestone tires)

CHEVROLET IN THE NTT INDYCAR SERIES
2023 GMR GRAND PRIX
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY ROAD COURSE
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE RECAP
MAY 13, 2023

PATO O’WARD AND ALEXANDER ROSSI PUT CHEVROLET ON THE PODIUM AT INDIANAPOLIS ROAD COURSE
Arrow McLaren INDYCAR Finishes All Three Entries In Top-Five

• Arrow McLaren INDYCAR’s Pato O’Ward (second) and Alexander Rossi (third) give Chevrolet their 290th and 291st podium finishes in the 2.2-liter V6 twin turbo injection era (since 2012), the sixth and seventh of the 2023 NTT INDYCAR Series season.
• Arrow McLaren INDYCAR teammate Felix Rosenqvist finished in the top-five, giving Arrow McLaren INDYCAR a strong finish and start to the month of May.
• Arrow McLaren INDYCAR’s Alexander Rossi led the morning GMR Grand Prix Warm Up for Team Chevy, finishing the session second with his fastest lap of 01:10.4153. Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin finished seventh, and teammate Josef Newgarden finished eighth.

INDIANAPOLIS (May 13, 2023) – As the checkered flag dropped on the 2023 GMR Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course, Arrow McLaren INDYCAR’s Pato O’Ward and Alexander Rossi concluded a physically challenging and hot race to give Chevrolet their 290th and 291st podium finishes as a V6 engine supplier since the 2012 return to the NTT INDYCAR Series.

Earning the sixth and seventh podium of the 2023 season, O’Ward and Rossi were joined in the top-five by teammate Felix Rosenqvist, giving the Arrow McLaren INDYCAR team a strong start to the month of May at Indianapolis and momentum heading into the shift to the oval next week.

“We’ve always been really strong on Sundays,” said Rossi. “We just haven’t really gotten the results we deserve for the performance of the car. But the fact that McLaren got three cars in the top-five in this field, and this competition, that’s a huge testament to the organization and what we have going on here. It’s a big confidence boost in good momentum going into the most important race of the year.”

“For us, I mean, we were two, three and five as a team, that’s pretty freaking phenomenal,” reflected O’Ward. “The guys gave us a great race car. We were kind of just running our own race today. We were there fighting with (Christian) Lundgaard between all of us teammates. Once I got in front of him, I just had to try and minimize the gap I had with Alex (Palou), but I just think they were very strong today.”

“Overall, I’m really happy for the team,” stated Rosenqvist. “Top-five for all of us. That’s insanely good. That’s a very rare result in INDYCAR these days, so a big congrats to the whole team. Personally, I wasn’t certainly super happy with that race when we had some sense, but we lost a bit too much on the final lap in the sequence on the reds, and too much (degradation). Otherwise, apart from that, it was a pretty good race.”

Up next for Team Chevy is the prestigious month of May, shifting focus to the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval with practice starting Tuesday, May 16, 2023. The 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge takes the green flag live on NBC starting at 11 a.m. ET on NBC Sunday, May 28, 2023.

TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 RESULTS:

POS. DRIVER

2nd Pato O’Ward

3rd Alexander Rossi

5th Felix Rosenqvist

7th Josef Newgarden

2023 CHEVROLET BY THE NUMBERS:

291: NTT INDYCAR SERIES podiums as a V6 engine supplier since 2012 return to INDYCAR.
187: NTT INDYCAR SERIES races as V6 engine supplier since 2012 return to INDYCAR.
108: Wins in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES since 2012.
121: Earned poles since 2012.
7: NTT INDYCAR SERIES by Chevrolet drivers in 2023 so far.
7: Manufacturer Championships since 2012.
7: Driver/entrant champions since 2012.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING (QUOTES):

Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Chevrolet at Team Penske:

“We unfortunately had a slow final stop. I think we had a slow plug in. I think we lost seven or eight seconds just trying to get that right. I think today was a third-place day. If we get the final stop all good, that’s probably where we land and we ended up seventh. It’s kind of been the story of the year, just not great timing on some of this stuff. Not a bad day. I told the team this was a good fighting day. Great fighting day with the Snap On car. Team Chevy did a fantastic job. I would have been really pleased if we left with a third but we’ll take the seventh and roll in to the big show and hopefully have a really, really good day.”

CONSIDERING YOUR TEAM OWNER OWNING THE SPEEDWAY, DO YOU NEED A REMINDER HOW IMPORTANT THE NEXT TWO WEEKS ARE?

“Oh no. We all know it. But it’s important to all of us. The pressure is always there. We want to do well. I want to do well as anybody, just as much as (Roger Penske) does. We’re ready. We’re as ready as we can be. Hopefully we can get it right.”

Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Chevrolet at Team Penske:

“Obviously a little frustrated at how we qualified with the Odyssey Battery Chevrolet. After practice I thought we should challenge for the Firestone Fast Six. Then, after warmup, I thought we were better and starting on the red tires would give us a chance to make up a few positions over the start of the race. The first corner of this race is always a bit chaotic and it caught us today with some front wing damage that we had to come in and repair. Immediately that changes our strategy but we fought back and looked to be in a position for a top 10, which would have been acceptable considering. We’ll have to go back and look at why we got so low on fuel. Luckily the light came on in time for me to hit pit road and take on one gallon to make it to the end. Frustrating but we need to forget this result and focus on the 500.”

Will Power, No. 12 Chevrolet at Team Penske:

“It was good recovery. I mean, real pity about that incident to get spun out. Persona attack the rest of the day; but happy to get back to 12th. Now we move on to the big one.”

Conor Daly, No. 20 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:

“Today seemed a bit odd. We made a lot of progress at the start and seemed like we were moving forward. I am not sure how the strategies ended up playing out so we didn’t end up moving forward as much as we wanted. We lost a lot of tire grip at the end, but we tried to make the best out of the situation and pass a lot of cars. It just didn’t seem to fall our way. I can’t wait to get to the oval and keep that good momentum that I have had here before going.”

Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:

“It was a pretty good race, but quite tough. We were just short on pace, but in every on-track battle I found myself in I was able to get the better spot. I did everything I could today and we were able to move up to 13th from 17th. Brought the No. 21 BITNILE.COM Chevrolet home clean, picked up some points and now am looking forward to the Indianapolis 500.”

Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

“For us, I mean, we were two, three and five as a team. That’s pretty freaking phenomenal. The guys gave us a great race car. We were kind of just running our own race today. We were there fighting with (Christian) Lundgaard between all of us teammates. Once I got in front of him, I just had to try and minimize the gap I had with Alex (Palou), but I just think they were very strong today. We were just kind of hanging on there in the end trying not to destroy our reds and bring it home, bring some solid points.”

ON RACING IN THE HEAT WITH THE HUMIDITY AND THE AEROSCREEN, HOW ARE YOU FEELING WITH A RACE THAT MOSTLY WENT GREEN?

“Obviously, it’s one of the toughest races we have year-round, but I don’t spend all those hours in the gym to be struggling. I feel great.”

IT’S HARD NOT TO THINK ABOUT THE INDIANAPOLIS 500, HOW SOON TO YOU SHIFT WITH THE ROAD COURSE TO THINK OF TUESDAY AND THE INDY 500?

“Our 500 started weeks ago at the Open Test, so we come back on Tuesday, and we want to make it better. We want to make it the best we can, and come race day, we’ll try and give ourselves that opportunity once again and see where we stack up.”

Felix Rosenqvist, No. 6 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

“Overall, I’m really happy for the team. Top-five for all of us. That’s insanely good. That’s a very rare result in INDYCAR these days, so a big congrats to the whole team. Personally, I wasn’t certainly super happy with that race when we had some sense, but we lost a bit too much on the final lap in the sequence on the reds, and too much (degradation). Otherwise, apart from that, it was a pretty good race. I think me and (Alexander Rossi) passed each other six times our there, so I wasn’t generally quick in the beginning. It was quicker at the end of the stint, and I think that’s where it got him the podium in the end. Pato (O’Ward) did a solid sequence in the middle of the race as well, which leaped him up to the front. It was good. I mean, these days are rare, but you can always be better.”

Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

“We’ve always been really strong on Sundays. We just haven’t really gotten the results we deserve for the performance of the car. But the fact that McLaren got three cars in the top-five in this field, and this competition, that’s a huge testament to the organization and what we have going on here. It’s a big confidence boost in good momentum going into the most important race of the year.

I think we’ve been there every race. Like I said, we’ve been there on Sundays all year. You know, we were we were we had a good day going in Texas. We were a lap away from finishing the top six in Long Beach. It’s just we haven’t quite executed completely. But you know, the pace in the car is there. It’s a really lovely racecar to drive. You just we got to find a way to extract a little bit more performance for optimal lap time.”

Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:

“Long day for us at AJ Foyt Racing. We were having a really solid day, and probably would have wound up with a pretty easy top-15. But that’s racing. A wheel nut just came off when we put the gun down, so that happens. That happens to the best of us. Other than that, the Sexton Properties Chevrolet was really strong. Looking forward to getting back out to the next road course, but now we’ve got the (Indianapolis) 500.”

Benjamin Pedersen, No. 55 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:

“Tough day. We were super fast honestly. I think we were the seventh fastest average lap time the whole race, so unfortunately we went four laps down at the start due to the radio giving us issues. As a rule, we can’t be out there if the radio’s not sorted. Big bummer, just due to the fact we were really fast. I think the potential to be top-12 is there after starting P23, so we’re making huge gains from a driving perspective in car. That’s the most important thing. We’ve just got to get all the other little details for Indy.”

Callum Ilott, No. 77 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:

“Bit of a tough race. We had a first couple stints that wasn’t the best. Struggling a bit with the tires, and then managed to pull it back a bit at the end. Had some good pace but unfortunately was out a bit of position to make it easy to come back. Ended up P18 from P24. It’s been a tough weekend. I wish we could’ve got a little bit more out of it. Sometimes it’s like that. We just have to understand why and move on, and make it better for the next one.”

PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN CHEVROLET, AND ALEXANDER ROSSI, NO. 7 ARROW MCLAREN CHEVROLET — Podium Press Conference Transcript:

PATO, JUST YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT COMING HOME SECOND, ANOTHER PODIUM HERE IN 2023?

PATO O’WARD: “Super stoked for the team. We put three cars in the top five. Fricking hard to do in this series with how competitive it is. Just stoked for everybody in the organization, for our 5 crew.

We made our strategy really work, right? I just think today Palou and Ganassi were very, very strong, so we couldn’t quite get them there in the end.

Historically this hasn’t been the best of tracks for us. So this is awesome to see just the massive step forward we’ve taken here in race pace. Super happy to see that.

Rolling with some great momentum into our Super Bowl.”

ALEXANDER, CONGRATULATIONS. CHOMPING AT THE BIT WAITING FOR A MOMENT LIKE THIS WITH THE NEW TEAM.

ALEXANDER ROSSI: “Like Pato said, to get three cars in the top five is near on impossible these days. Arrow McLaren has done a phenomenal job all year. You can’t talk about how challenging it is to add a car in the off-season. They’ve done it with relative apparent ease. There’s a lot of work behind the scenes.

Really proud to get the first podium for the team, the first one as part of Team Chevy. It was a good day. We’ve had a really strong pace on Sundays, we just haven’t gotten the results that we feel like we deserve. We’re missing a little bit on Saturdays.

The pieces are coming together. I’ve got an awesome team, awesome teammates around me.”

PATO, I THINK PALOU IS THE ONLY ONE OF THE TOP SEVEN TO STARTED ON REDS.

ALEXANDER ROSSI: “Yeah, I started 10th (smiling).”

ANY SECOND THOUGHTS THERE ON STARTING ON THE ALTERNATE?

PATO O’WARD: “No, I was happy with my strategy. I just think right when we were I believe second-to-last stint, I just blew too much push to pass. I could have used some more to keep Palou behind us, which I think we might have been able to do.

Yeah, you got to pick your battles. I was like, You know what, at this point of the stage of the race. I think that was the defining moment of the race because a yellow never came out. If a yellow did come out, I would have been in very big trouble.

I just played it safe, yeah, chose my battles cautiously. Super happy, content with the solid points that we got today.”

WHEN HE WINS BY 13 SECONDS, IS IT LIKE DOESN’T MATTER WHAT STRATEGY?

PATO O’WARD: “Track position is so much here. I took longer to get by Lundgaard than what Alex did. I got stuck behind other guys a little bit longer than where he made up the time. When he got out of the pits, I was held up by some lappers. That all just adds up to the amount of time that you just keep losing, especially in those crucial in and out laps.

Yeah, I mean, obviously we’re going to look into it and see what we could have done better. I think it was a job really well done, not just by our car but all three Arrow McLarens.”

ALEX, FOR THE NEXT STEP, ARE YOU LOOKING TO EXTRACT MORE IN QUALIFYING?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: “Yeah, I mean, it’s a very different car than I’m used to. I just haven’t quite found my happy spot for like the ultimate lap. It’s close. It seems like we’re permanently qualifying 10th, 11th or 12th. It’s not a disaster. We’re certainly much better in race pace, or have been so far this year.

Yeah, I mean, it’s not the end of the world. We’ll get there. It’s competitive, and you can’t be missing a 10th of a second. Ultimately that’s what we’re missing.

We’ll keep our heads down. A bit of a shift now for the next two weeks. Yeah, really looking forward to getting started on the oval.”

CAN YOU ADDRESS THE CONFIDENCE YOU COME OUT OF THIS WITH?

PATO O’WARD: “I mean, I think confidence comes with — what I’m getting at, it’s a different beast, right? Indy is different. We’re not really going to know what we’ve got up until we put all the fast bits on the car, we see where we stack up.

Obviously last year the Ganassis were the different benchmark. They’re the ones that we’re chasing. We’ve been putting so much hard work. I know the engineers have spent endless hours of just time in all the different ways that we can find lap time for Indy.

I’m just so excited to see what we can do. We’ve continuously put ourselves into good positions there past few years. I think I can do it again for all of us at the 5 stand. Hopefully we get that opportunity and go that one more step that we want to do.”

ALEXANDER ROSSI: “Man, this is a momentum game. We talk about it a lot. Performance here doesn’t translate the other direction, but it’s good mentally for everyone. You know you’ve got the ability to have the results across all three cars. When everyone is relaxed and just doing what they know how to do, the confidence in their abilities is when the performance comes.”

IS THERE A GREATER FEELING OF PRIDE IN THAT THERE’S THREE ARROW MCLAREN CARS IN THE TOP FIVE OR IS THE FEELING MORE FRUSTRATION THAT IT’S NONE OF THEM IN THE TOP STEP OF THE PODIUM?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: “Yeah, I think it’s hard to win these races. I think the 10 car was just stronger. A stronger car will really make any strategy look good. I don’t think we would do anything different if we had to do it again.

Yeah, I think it’s all pride in the fact that it’s three cars in the top five. Obviously for Pato it’s probably frustrating. I’ve been in that boat before. You just got to enjoy the seconds, because that’s what counts at the end.”

PATO, DO YOU ENJOY THE SECONDS?

PATO O’WARD: “Man, I’m flowing. I know my wins will come. I’m chilling.”

ALEX, IT HAD BEEN A TOUGH COUPLE YEARS AT THE END OF YOUR STINT WITH ANDRETTI. IS THIS THE TYPE OF DAY YOU WERE HOPING FOR WITH A FRESH START WITH A NEW TEAM?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: “I was actually talking to a friend about it this morning. Our frustration in the fact that we’re qualifying 10th, that’s a good sign. There’s still so much potential. The whole group, not just my car.

There’s things that we know that we need to improve. It’s very clear objectives that we need to improve upon. When we unlock it all, it’s going to be a really cool thing for three cars out there.”

THE WAY THIS TEAM HAS BEEN ABLE TO ADD SO MANY PERSONNEL AT A FULL-TIME PROGRAM, DO SOMETHING WE HAVE SEEN SOME TEAMS STRUGGLE WITH, BUT I DON’T THINK ANYONE FOUND THEIR WAY TO A PODIUM AS QUICK AS YOU HAD IN A BRAND-NEW PROGRAM.

ALEXANDER ROSSI: “Yeah, it’s a testament to every single individual there, to management, to Gavin, to Brian, to all the engineers. It’s a very hard task.

Some of the people on my car in particular had never seen an INDYCAR before. Just the improvement and development every single time I show up at the racetrack is very impressive.

We just got to keep pushing along, keep addressing our weakness. Like I said, it’s going to be a cool ride for everyone.”

PATO, YOU’RE PRETTY COMFORTABLE WITH THREE SECOND-PLACE FINISHES IN FIVE RACES SO FAR. AT WHAT POINT WILL IT GET FRUSTRATING IF THAT WIN DOESN’T COME ALONG?

PATO O’WARD: “It won’t. I mean, honestly, if we’re second for the rest of the season, we’re chilling. Yeah, they will fall. Is it going to fall the next one, in two, three, four, five? Who knows. Is it going to fall until next year? You never know.

I sure know that what we’ve been doing, we’ve been knocking on the door every single weekend. Like, there hasn’t been one weekend where we’re lost, no. There’s been some weekends where we haven’t started off that strong. We make changes and we’re right there.

I’m just really enjoying it. We’re growing massively as a team. We get to work with some pretty cool people. I mean, I know Zak is having a total fan moment right now over there. I know he’s pumped to get to the 500. There’s been so much going into not just that race but for all three cars, all four cars for the 500, but all three cars for a full season.

Yeah, we just got to keep doing what we’re doing.”

SEEMS WHEN ALEX PALOU HAS A GOOD DAY, HE CAN RUN AWAY FROM THE FIELD, HARD TO DO IN THIS SERIES. FROM WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT HIM, WHAT DO YOU FEEL IT IS ABOUT HIM THAT WHEN HE’S ON, HE CAN BE ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO BEAT?

PATO O’WARD: “Impossible to beat? I don’t agree. But he’s strong. He’s in one of the best teams, arguably the best in the past few years.

We’re pushing. We’re pushing. We’re right there. We’re not far off. I know we’re going to find it. Not worried.”

ALEX, I KNOW YOU WERE A BIG BELIEVER IN BRIAN BARNHART AT THE LAST TEAM. WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO BE ABLE TO GET A PERFORMANCE LIKE THIS NOW THAT YOU AND BRIAN ARE WITH ARROW MCLAREN?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: “Yeah, I mean, Brian, I can’t say enough good things about what he does, the position that he’s in now at the team in terms of a management role, not just being a strategy guy. He’s instrumental in the success that this team has had to start the year. I’m very fortunate to have him on my car.

I was fortunate to have him last year. To be able to continue the relationship in new colors is a very good thing for both of us.”

PATO, YOU WERE ABLE TO GET ALEX DURING THE OFF-SEASON AS A TEAMMATE. HOW QUICK DID IT TAKE FOR THE THREE OF YOU TO MESH, BECOME A PRETTY GOOD TRIO?

PATO O’WARD: “Honestly, it didn’t take much time. I mean, he can correct me if I’m wrong, but I think he needed a change. I think he’s fit in very well. I think he’s really embraced how we work as a team. I think it’s extremely different to a lot of other teams on the grid.

Yeah, I mean, it’s not just like Alex. I feel like with his team, I feel like all of us are working really hard to have the best three cars on the grid.”

PATO, YOU HAVE AN INDY 500 WINNER ON YOUR TEAM, ADD ANOTHER ONE TO THE LINEUP ON TUESDAY. WHAT DOES THAT DO FOR THE TEAM DYNAMIC? HOW MUCH IS HAVING SOMEBODY WITH THAT MUCH EXPERIENCE GOING TO MEAN TO YOU GUYS?

PATO O’WARD: “I mean, obviously there’s so much that you can tap into, chat with them in certain scenarios, right?

Indy is a different beast in its own where I feel in my experience I’ve always been on my island. We know we’ve had Montoya, Alonzo. Everybody usually just goes with what they’re comfortable with. If you keep chasing something that maybe your teammate likes, you need to find what works for you. When you find what works for you, that’s how you are going to put yourself in positions to win the race.

You’re not going to get there by trying to chase someone else’s setup and hope you can drive it the same way. Everybody drives differently. So I think it’s all about maximizing what you need from your car, trying to help the whole team while you’re doing that, right?

A lot of the times my car, my teammates never liked my car. Montoya was on the other stratosphere of setups. Yeah, it doesn’t mean one’s better than the other. We just drive very differently.

When you’re going 230, 240 miles an hour, you need something that you’re comfortable with.”

PATO, ARROW MCLAREN WAS KNOCKING ON THE DOOR WITH YOU FOR THE LAST FEW YEARS. SINCE YOU EXPANDED THIS TEAM, IT FEELS LIKE IT’S ON THE THRESHOLD OF BREAKING THAT GLASS CEILING. WHAT IS IT ABOUT GAVIN COMING IN?

PATO O’WARD: “I think his approach. He has a very humored approach to everything. I can say he’s not only helped the team, but I have improved outside of the race car because of Gavin, just kind of having a different set of eyes that looks at things in a different way.

At the end of the day this is all a human sport. None of us are robots. We’re all the ones that are putting in the work. That’s what it takes.

Sometimes it’s important to know that we all need some rest and recharge sometimes. You can’t always go full on. What you need is you need to make sure you’re in the position to do it when it counts, right?

Just hats off to everybody that worked so hard in the off-season. There’s countless guys and gals in the team that spend many hours in the off-season to find more lap time.”

About Chevrolet

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INDIANAPOLIS (Saturday, May 13, 2023) – Alex Palou and Chip Ganassi Racing flexed a potent combination of speed and strategy to win the GMR Grand Prix on Saturday on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, the Spaniard’s first victory of the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season.

2021 series champion Palou, who started third, drove his No. 10 The American Legion Honda to a 16.8006-second victory over runner-up Pato O’Ward in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi finished third in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, his first podium result with the team he joined this season after seven years at Andretti Autosport.

“We honestly knew we had a fast car since P1 (first practice) yesterday,” Palou said. “The car has been amazing all weekend. Once we knew we were starting on reds (Firestone alternate tires), I think we knew we were going to fight for the win.

“Amazing work by these guys. I just had to execute.”

Palou’s last victory came in the season-ending Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey last September at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

NTT P1 Award winner Christian Lundgaard finished a season-best fourth in the No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda. Felix Rosenqvist rounded out the top five in the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, as his season-best result gave the team three of the top five finishing positions.

Devising the correct tire strategy for the 85-lap race caused considerable head-scratching for strategists and engineers up and down the pit lane Friday evening and Saturday, reflected in the reality that six of the top 10 starters began the race on Firestone primary “black” tires and four started on Firestone alternate “red” tires. INDYCAR rules require each driver to use both tire compounds during road and street course races.

Palou signaled his intent and showed his speed on Lap 1 when he jumped from third to first on alternate tires, taking the top spot in Turn 13 from pole sitter Lundgaard, who was on primary tires.

For the next 65 laps, Palou, Lundgaard, O’Ward, Rosenqvist, Rossi, Scott Dixon, Graham Rahal and Marcus Ericsson swapped the top spot as leaders peeled off the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course to execute their chosen tire and fuel strategies. The constant shuffle kept strategists on their toes, as one wrong move could have proved pivotal if a caution flag fell at the wrong time.

But the race stayed caution-free after an incident on Lap 2 between Dale Coyne Racing teammates David Malukas and Sting Ray Robb, so the outcome came down to a blend of smarts, speed and execution. And nobody did it better than Palou and the Ganassi brain trust.

Palou made his final stop on Lap 60, choosing scuffed Firestone primary tires, which are slower initially than the softer-compound alternates but whose harder compound lasted laps longer than the alternates and proved to be the better choice for consistent lap times.

Rossi took the lead on Lap 62 when teammate O’Ward pitted for a set of sticker alternate tires for his final stint. But Rossi surrendered the lead to Palou when he made his final stop on Lap 65, and then it was checkout time for Palou.

Palou had a 10.5-second lead on O’Ward when he inherited the lead after Rossi’s pit stop. O’Ward hoped to take a chunk out of that lead and perhaps even challenge Palou for victory due to the extra grip and speed of his sticker Firestone alternate tires, but Palou’s pace on both Firestone compounds proved too much. He pulled away over the closing laps, leaving the best jousting on track as the spirited, position-swapping contest for the final podium position between Rossi, Lundgaard and Rosenqvist.

“Hats off to them,” O’Ward said of Palou and the CGR team. “I just think they were extremely strong today. They really were. For us, we’re two, three and five as a team, and that’s pretty frickin’ phenomenal.

“The guys gave us a great race car. We were kind of just running our own race today. We were there fighting with Lundgaard and all of us teammates. Once I got clear, I had to minimize the gap I had to Alex, but I think they were very strong today. We were just hanging on there at the end, trying not to destroy our reds.”

Palou led 52 of the 85 laps, followed by Lundgaard with 13 laps led. Palou will split $10,000 with Chip Ganassi Racing and his chosen charity, The American Legion, for his victory as part of the PeopleReady Force For Good Challenge.

The win also vaulted Palou to the top of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES standings in the most important month of the series calendar. He leads second-place O’Ward, 174-168, after five races this season. Previous championship leader Ericsson slipped to third, 19 points behind Palou, after finishing eighth in the No. 8 Huski Chocolate Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES race is the 107th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on Sunday, May 27 on the 2.5-mile IMS oval. Practice for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” starts Tuesday, May 16, with PPG Presents Armed Forces Qualifying on Saturday, May 20 and Sunday, May 21.

1. (3) Alex Palou, Honda, 85, Running
2. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 85, Running
3. (10) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 85, Running
4. (1) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 85, Running
5. (2) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 85, Running
6. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 85, Running
7. (13) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 85, Running
8. (7) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 85, Running
9. (14) Colton Herta, Honda, 85, Running
10. (8) Graham Rahal, Honda, 85, Running
11. (18) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 85, Running
12. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 85, Running
13. (17) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 85, Running
14. (6) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 85, Running
15. (11) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 85, Running
16. (16) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 85, Running
17. (15) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 84, Running
18. (24) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 84, Running
19. (21) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 84, Running
20. (4) Jack Harvey, Honda, 84, Running
21. (25) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 84, Running
22. (26) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 84, Running
23. (27) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 80, Running
24. (23) Benjamin Pedersen, Chevrolet, 79, Running
25. (19) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, 58, Mechanical
26. (20) David Malukas, Honda, 2, Contact
27. (22) Sting Ray Robb, Honda, 1, Contact

Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 115.234 mph
Time of Race: 01:47:56.7003
Margin of victory: 16.8006 seconds
Cautions: 1 for 3 laps
Lead changes: 12 among 8 drivers

Lap Leaders:
Palou, Alex 1 – 17
Lundgaard, Christian 18 – 19
Rosenqvist, Felix 20 – 22
Ericsson, Marcus 23
Rahal, Graham 24 – 30
Lundgaard, Christian 31 – 41
Palou, Alex 42 – 43
Ericsson, Marcus 44
Dixon, Scott 45 – 47
Palou, Alex 48 – 59
O’Ward, Pato 60 – 61
Rossi, Alexander 62 – 64
Palou, Alex 65 – 85

NTT INDYCAR SERIES Point Standings: Palou 174, O’Ward 168, Ericsson 155, Grosjean 134, McLaughlin 133, Newgarden 131, Dixon 127, Power 122, Lundgaard 111, Rossi 108, Kirkwood 108, Herta 107, Rosenqvist 97, Ilott 92, Rahal 86, Malukas 79, Armstrong 77, VeeKay 64, Canapino 56, Castroneves 53, Harvey 53, Ferrucci 51, Pagenaud 50, Daly 49, DeFrancesco 46, Robb 42, Pedersen 40, Ed Carpenter 17, Takuma Sato 5