BIG MACHINE SPIKED COOLERS GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING DEBRIEF 08.13.2021
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES is back at it this weekend as one of three major series competing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for an action-packed tripleheader race weekend. After an hour-long practice session in the afternoon, the 28-car field took to the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course for an abbreviated, knockout qualifying session.
Colton Herta and Alexander Rossi both advanced out of the first round of qualifying securing their spot in the fight for the pole position. After the 10-minute final round of qualifying, Herta came away in fifth with only four hundredths of a second separating him from the pole position and Rossi will start in 10th tomorrow. Ryan Hunter-Reay just narrowly missed out on moving into the final round of qualifying missing the cut-off by only eighth hundredths of a second. James Hinchcliffe suffered a speed penalty which invalidated the Canadian’s fastest lap, the 29 team will line up 24th.
The Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix goes green Saturday at 1 p.m. ET with live broadcast beginning on NBC Sports Network at 12:30 p.m. ET.
COLTON HERTA No. 26 GAINBRIDGE HONDA
STARTING POSITION
QUALIFYING TIME
5
1:10.7631
“Actually, really happy with qualifying. I wasn’t really comfortable at all with the car this morning – you can see that in the time sheets. I’m really happy with the changes that we made, and everybody came up with a good strategy for qualifying. I felt comfortable in the Gainbridge Honda, everything kind of clicked again. Although P5 isn’t great if you look at some of our results previously, after how the weekend started, I’m really happy with it.”
