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Qualifying report

Phoenix IndyCar: Top 10 quotes after qualifying

Castroneves keeps Phoenix speed king crown with record qualifying run

Pole sitter Helio Castroneves, Team Penske Chevrolet

Pole sitter Helio Castroneves, Team Penske Chevrolet

Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images

Pole sitter Helio Castroneves, Team Penske Chevrolet
Will Power, Team Penske Chevrolet
J.R. Hildebrand
Josef Newgarden, Team Penske Chevrolet
Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske Chevrolet
Tony Kanaan, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
Mikhail Aleshin, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda
Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, Ed Jones, Dale Coyne Racing Honda
Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport Honda
Sébastien Bourdais, Dale Coyne Racing Honda helmet

Cla#DriverTimeGapMph
1 3 brazil Helio Castroneves 37.7538   194.905
"People don't realize that qualifying is extremely difficult. I took it to the limit - I had one eye closed and one eye open. Experience is a big part of this and today was really, really good. The conditions were really difficult today in practice - the gusting winds were horrendous. We worked mostly on the race setup (in practice). My engineer did a phenomenal job and obviously everybody at Team Penske - the REV Group car was really fast. Qualifying is one thing - the race is another - but I'm really confident going into tomorrow."
2 12 australia Will Power 37.9266 0.1728 194.017
"Conditions were better (during qualifying) but it was tough going second in line cause of all the dust that had blown on the track. So I was very unsure on the first lap but the Verizon Chevrolet felt really good honestly. Helio (Castroneves) actually ran a little less downforce than me - so he trimmed more - so he was really fast. Good run - good starting position and we'll see what we can do tomorrow." 
3 21 united_states J.R. Hildebrand 37.9471 0.1933 193.912
"I'm glad to be up there in the top three. The car has been good here from the test to rolling out today for practice. We had a good, strong run. It's so difficult to pick your downforce level in these varied conditions. We saw the Penske guys roll out with a little less than where we were at, but frankly, our cars are really good in race trim. Ed (Carpenter) and the No. 20 car will be hauling it from the back, but he'll be someone to watch in the race for sure."
4 2 united_states Josef Newgarden 37.9933 0.2395 193.676
“We felt great coming out of practice after running so fast. The Hum by Verizon Chevrolet felt strong as we went into qualifying but it just didn’t have enough to make it to the pole. We’re going to work on the car a bit tomorrow and ready to find speed. Can’t really be that unhappy. We have a good starting position and should be able to shake things up a little.” 
5 1 france Simon Pagenaud 38.0449 0.2911 193.414
“We had a good run in the Menards Chevy. Fifth was alright, but we were really hungry for more. Early on in the session, we felt we would stay on the front row but did not in the end. We have some work to do tomorrow but I am excited for night racing tomorrow.” 
6 10 brazil Tony Kanaan 38.2178 0.4640 192.539
"We had a good qualifying today. The No. 10 NTT Data Honda looks fast and I'm happy with where we're starting tomorrow. I have a strong track record here at Phoenix, so I definitely think we can get around those Chevys tomorrow and win from sixth." 
7 7 russia Mikhail Aleshin 38.2599 0.5061 192.327
"We had an issue during our run ... not the best issue to have especially during qualifying. The car was really good, and that problem happened last minute so it was too late to solve it. Anyway, I'm happy with where we are at the moment, so we'll see how the rest of qualifying goes and where we end up tomorrow." 
8 9 new_zealand Scott Dixon 38.3151 0.5613 192.050
"The ambient conditions changed a lot from practice to qualifying. We found a lot and learned that we were a bit too conservative in qualifying. We came up a little short and we know we can trim out a bit more for the race in the NTT Data No. 9. It was a little bit too easy which means we have room to go faster which is good for the race tomorrow." 
9 27 united_states Marco Andretti 38.4478 0.6940 191.387
"I had the Oberto/Circle K car pretty wrung out for the situation. I didn't get to do a (qualifying) run in practice and that really, really hurt us. I sort of reacted to the glaze of the front tire and had a lot of understeer on the out lap, but that was just the characteristic of the tire coming in so I reacted in the cockpit when I probably shouldn't have. I would have been better just driving it and not touching the cockpit tools - but that's what you learn in practice. Without that, we just sort of went for it. It was really trusting our work, and we do good work in testing. We went back to a setup from two months ago here in testing and it rebounded and that's a good confidence builder going forward." 
10 18 france Sébastien Bourdais 38.4554 0.7016 191.349
"Not a bad run in the Sonny's car, but just not quite good enough. We're kind of fighting amongst ourselves in the Honda camp, and we're P5 in that group. It's OK, it's not great, but at the end of the day it's a tough run. You have to go straight out and all of a sudden you have to pull that lap and get your timing right. I wasn't quite aggressive enough and I didn't quite get the car spooled up enough on Lap 1. We'll keep pushing and see where we end up tomorrow." 

 

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