Saturday
Andretti Autosport Notes and Quotes, Post-Qualifying, Pole Day, Indianapolis
Press Release
IZOD INDYCAR SERIES
NOTES AND QUOTES, POST-QUALIFYING
POLE DAY
INDIANAPOLIS 500
MICHAEL ANDRETTI, CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
“We’re all surprised by our speed. We were expecting better, for sure. But, John (Andretti) did something different in his last qualifying run and he really picked up a lot, so we’re hoping that is going to work on all the other cars tomorrow. That’s our hope.”
JOHN ANDRETTI, #43 TEAM WINDOW WORLD CAR
Qualified for 17th starting position with a speed of 224.981 mph
“There’s so much excitement when you’re in the front, but there’s even more pressure when you’re not. You’ve only got to go through it once to know you never want to go through it again. After our first couple of attempts, we made a few changes and the car just came to life. The weather helped us; the wind seemed to have died down a bit. The Window World car was quick-the guys on the team did a great job. I’ve been through this before, so I wasn’t panicking but I was ready to be done. This race means a lot to me and my family. For me to be in this race on the 100th anniversary is special; it’s nice to be able to do it one more time.”
MARCO ANDRETTI, #26 TEAM VENOM ENERGY DRINK CAR
Failed to qualify in the top 24; will attempt to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 tomorrow
“It’s been a frustrating day for me and the team. We were slow all day – we’ve been slow since we rolled off and haven’t really gained or made any improvements. To not make it into the field today just makes it all feel even worse. But my teammate and cousin John (Andretti) made it in and we’re all happy for him. They obviously found some speed with his car and we’re hoping that what they’ve learned can help us with the Venom car tomorrow.”
MIKE CONWAY, #27 TEAM HIRE HEROES USA/7-ELEVEN/DR PEPPER CAR
Failed to qualify in the top 24; will attempt to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 tomorrow
“We’re just not quick enough right now, but I’m not the only one; we’re all kind of in the same group. We just need to learn from our teammates and see what we can come up with. It’s disappointing, really. We’ve obviously still got some work to do.”
RYAN HUNTER-REAY, #28 TEAM DHL/SUN DROP CITRUS SODA CAR
Failed to qualify in the top 24; will attempt to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 tomorrow
“It’s pretty tough for us right now. Most of the team is struggling with speed. But, we’ll keep chipping away at it. That’s all we can do. We need to get some speed out of it, but I’m not sure where it’s going to come from. We need to put our capes and our top-hats on, and make some magic happen. If we get this DHL/Sun Drop car in the race, it will be a contender. It’s just a matter of getting there.”
DANICA PATRICK, #7 TEAM GoDaddy.com CAR
Failed to qualify in the top 24; will attempt to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 tomorrow
“I felt that we had a fast car not only today, but all month and thought we would hit a 226 during today’s qualifying run. The GoDaddy car was really fast to start the month off. I was happy. It was the best I’ve felt here in a long time. I felt really comfortable with car and it felt effortlessly fast and it wasn’t really slow until this morning.
“All I can think of is something we missed or something happened with the track maybe and everyone is putting a new set of rubber on and it changed. We just have to buckle down at this point. I guess we are going to have to risk it a little more come tomorrow.”
- Andretti Autosport, Press Release
Article Tags: Andretti Autosport, Danica Patrick, IMS, Indianapolis 500, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indy, Indy 500, IndyCar, IZOD, IZOD IndyCar Series, John Andretti, Michael Andretti, Mike Conway, Pole Day, Pole Day/Tom Carnegie Day, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Tom Carnegie Day
