Daly finishes 12th (Q;9th) in the GMR Grand Prix NTT INDYCAR SERIES
After three straight years of near-miss disappointment, Scott Dixon finally closed the deal in the GMR Grand Prix NTT INDYCAR SERIES. Conor Daly (Ed Carpenter Racing US Air Force Chevrolet), with strong Irish roots as his Dad, Derek Daly was a former F1 & Indycar driver, qualified eight and finished twelfth
Dixon benefited from a well-timed caution period near the midway point of the race and then drove away to dominate the NTT INDYCAR SERIES race on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, winning by an event-record 19.9469 seconds in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. It marked the first victory in this event for the five-time series champion Dixon, who had finished second in this race for the last three years.
INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana- Results of the GMR Grand Prix NTT INDYCAR SERIES event on the 2.439-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway RC, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):
1. (7) Scott Dixon, Honda, 80, Running
2. (4) Graham Rahal, Honda, 80, Running
3. (20) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 80, Running
4. (3) Colton Herta, Honda, 80, Running
5. (18) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 80, Running
6. (14) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 80, Running
7. (6) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 80, Running
8. (13) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 80, Running
9. (15) Santino Ferrucci, Honda, 80, Running
10. (17) Takuma Sato, Honda, 80, Running
11. (19) James Hinchcliffe, Honda, 80, Running
- (8) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 80, Running
‘What They’re Saying’ from the GMR Grand Prix
Qualifying
8th– CONOR DALY (No. 20 U.S. Air Force Chevrolet): “We felt like we had a lot of grip on the red tires. For some reason, there’s a big difference in tires for us. On the blacks, the car just doesn’t quite come in the way I like it. As soon as we put on reds, I can really get on it, even on Lap 1. We have to try and bring those balances a little closer together for tomorrow, but I’m super pumped. We’ve got the U.S. Air Force Chevrolet, all of us here together for the first time at Ed Carpenter Racing, this is a great start. We’re right in the fight, starting eighth. That’s all we want – a chance to be up there and get good points at the end of the day.”
Post-Race
CONOR DALY (Finished 12th– No. 20 U.S. Air Force Chevy): “We had a really good start; really, a good first half of the race. I was happy with the car at the beginning, but fuel saving was tough for us. We had a bit of a difficult strategy call to make from there. But you know what, we put some points on the board, we hung with it, we’re still in the fight. Happy to get Race 1 with the U.S. Air Force Chevrolet under our belts!”
