Pato O’Ward has by no means began on the entrance row for the Indianapolis 500.
Till this yr.
The Arrow McLaren driver booked a spot within the Firestone Quick Six with a robust run in the course of the Quick 12 on Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and whereas he couldn’t catch Robert Shwartzman or Takuma Sato forward of him, O’Ward completed third within the Firestone Quick 6, and can begin on the surface of the entrance row within the 109th Indianapolis 500.
Which is strictly the place he wished to be.
“I’ve by no means been on the entrance row for an Indy 500, so that is nice. That is actually what I wished,” stated O’Ward in Arrow McLaren’s post-qualifying media report. “I advised my household yesterday that my objective was to be beginning on the surface of the entrance row. Clearly, I might’ve liked pole, however it’s a tall job. You simply by no means know right here, it’s all the time a shock.
O’Ward additionally paid tribute to pole-sitter Shwartzman and his crew, Prema Racing. Shwartzman turned the primary rookie to take pole place since Teo Fabi again on the 1983 Indianapolis 500, and the younger driver did so throughout his first race weekend at an oval.
That is additionally Prema’s first yr in IndyCar.
“I feel it’s phenomenal what Prema and Shwartzman have performed, it’s an unimaginable story.”
Nevertheless, O’Ward believes he and the No. 5 crew are “proper there” within the combine for subsequent Sunday.
“As for us, we’re proper there. We’ve had a fast automobile all month, and we’re going to proceed to have it within the race. We’re going to maintain engaged on that and see what we are able to make occur,” added O’Ward.
He is not going to be the one Arrow McLaren driver within the first three rows when the 109th Indianapolis 500 begins subsequent Sunday. Teammate Christian Lundgaard was within the Quick 12 with O’Ward on Sunday, and whereas he couldn’t advance to the Firestone Quick 6, he’ll begin the five hundred in P8.
His earlier finest begin was twenty eighth, which got here final yr.
That was a reasonably good day. We went out to the Prime 12 run not figuring out what to anticipate with the stability, and we ended up much more pushy than we had been this morning,” stated Lundgaard. “We wished to offer Pato a few of that info for his run, and he made it via to the Firestone Quick 6. Congrats to the No. 5 crew. On the finish of the day, the No. 7 VELO Arrow McLaren Chevrolet will begin eighth, which is rather a lot higher than I’ve beforehand performed right here.
“Loads of good to come back.”
Arrow McLaren Workforce Principal Tony Kanaan paid tribute to the complete crew.
“It’s been a stable month to date, and qualifying all vehicles into the sector is the objective. In case you take a look at our qualifying outcomes final yr, we had three vehicles within the high twelve, and at this time we put two there, however we’re within the entrance row. Totally different yr, completely different circumstances,” started Kanaan. “However you’ve obtained Nolan [Siegel] as a rookie within the race as a result of he didn’t make it via qualifying final yr. With Kyle [Larson], we went a bit conservative contemplating the circumstances all through the previous week.
“Christian is new to the crew doing an ideal job for us; he’s by no means actually had a robust automobile on the Speedway, so his laps had been fairly spectacular. We can’t deny that with our group of drivers now we have that Pato is probably the most skilled and due for the entrance row. We knew that he may ship for us. I’m proud of the end result, though the race automobile driver in me is a bit of mad we’re not on pole, however it’s Pato’s first entrance row begin. In order that’s gratifying to see.
Kanaan then closed his remarks with a prediction for the five hundred.
“I’m happy with everybody on this Arrow McLaren crew. We’ve been setting the tone with our marketing campaign this month with the white vehicles, and you’ll see all of the papaya followers out right here. The group was loopy at this time. Now we get to take the entrance row photograph tomorrow, and Pato and the crew are going to take pleasure in that.
“Then we’ll win the race subsequent week.”
