A growing sense of frustration at Andretti Autosport was not improved by the results of qualifying for the Honda Indy Toronto. The team’s quartet of drivers all will take up places in the bottom third of the grid, with Marco Andretti bringing up the rear of the 22-car field.
“Another bad qualifying for the team,” summed up Carlos Munoz, who led the group in 15th place. “Personally, I think I got everything I could out of the car. It’s not like we are not trying; we are trying everything we can.”
“What we’re missing is overall grip and compliance – it’s so important on a track like this,” related Ryan Hunter-Reay, next up for the Andretti runners in 18th. “We’re not even on the same planet as the front-runners right now when it comes to grip. You can just watch them through (Turns) 9 and 10 in front of the pits. You can watch all of our cars, it just seems like we’re really fighting the cars.
“When you’re talking about something as close as the two-tenths (of a second) we needed to advance, it’s just so hard to put a lap together when you don’t have enough grip to deal with it. We’ll look at it, but all our cars are together. As a team we have to work on it, because we shouldn’t be here. It’s really unfortunate; it’s not fun at the moment.”
Andretti-Herta’s Alexander Rossi slotted in behind Hunter-Reay in 19th, and echoed his downbeat assessment.
“It was a pretty abysmal qualifying, I think,” conceded the Indy 500 winner. “We went in with high hopes after the final practice this morning but nothing seemed to come together this afternoon. It’s very disappointing to have to start where we do, especially on a track that is challenging to make a pass. We’re going to need a bit of luck on our side tomorrow.”
And at the back? Andretti just wants to turn the page.
“A tough one to talk about,” said Marco of the qualifying session. “We are just lacking grip all around. I did a stint on (the Firestone alternate) reds and it felt like I was on blacks. We need to find more grip for not just the Dr Pepper car, but for the team.”
It is very difficult to try to win races from the bottom one third of the grid race in and race out! Other than winning the Indy 500 this year, it appears that the Andretti Autosport teams seems to be a great disadvantage.
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
