QUALIFYING REPORT: XPEL Grand Prix at Road America

• Following a strong practice session earlier this morning that found him third on the leaderboard, Colton Herta took on qualifying for the eighth time at Road America this afternoon. 
• Running as high as second during the session, Herta fought his way through the field, but ultimately struggled with balance and missed out on advancing to Round 2. Today’s result marks the first time Herta has not advanced past Round 1 in his seven INDYCAR starts at Road America.
• With a strong history at Road America, Herta hopes to continue his previous successes on the circuit where the Gainbridge Honda driver has secured one podium and four top-five finishes.
  

“It was a pretty disappointing day for the Gainbridge crew. We’re starting P16, so we’ve got work to do. But we’ve been solid at Road America  in the past, and we’ll look to bounce back stronger tomorrow.”

• After leading Practice 1 yesterday and finishing second in Practice 2 this morning, Kyle Kirkwood took on this afternoon’s qualifying session in Group 1, determined to carry the momentum to secure a strong starting position for tomorrow’s race.
• Leading off qualifying for the Andretti INDYCAR lineup in Group 1, Kyle Kirkwood initially clocked the sixth-fastest lap in his group, but a qualifying penalty involving the No. 9 and No. 30 bumped the Siemens Honda up to fifth at the conclusion of Round 1.
• Kirkwood went on to record another fifth-place result in Round 2, locking in his fourth Firestone Fast Six appearance at Road America.
• Once the green flag waved for the Firestone Fast Six, the Siemens Honda encountered an issue with the MGU (Motor Generator Unit) that only allowed Kirkwood to complete one lap. However, despite the setback, the Florida native was still able to secure his best career start at Road America.
• With back-to-back victories in Detroit and St. Louis, and currently third in the INDYCAR Championship standings, Kirkwood will make his fourth start tomorrow at Road America with hopes of adding his first road course win to an already impressive season. 

“It was a good day finishing P3. I can’t be upset with that. I only got one lap there at the end, so I’m somewhat disappointed with that. We had an MGU fail right before we wanted to descend, and that hindered us from getting that lap in, which was needed to even try and go for the pole. Nonetheless, we did a good job reacting, responding and remedying the issue, to then get on track and lock in P3 for tomorrow. That’s been a really good starting spot here in the past, so we’ll see what happens.”

• Joining teammate Herta in the second group of Round 1, Marcus Ericsson took to the track hoping to secure a strong qualifying result for the fourth road course race of the season. 
• The No. 28 Fresh Connect Central Honda showed speed early in the session, but was unable to keep up the pace as the session continued, ultimately keeping Ericsson from advancing to Round 2.
• Having finished outside the top 10 only once at Road America, Marcus Ericsson will look to carry that consistency into his eighth start on the Wisconsin road course tomorrow.

“We had a really tough weekend with yesterday’s and this morning’s practice. The car was just not in the window, and we were really slow. I think the 28 Fresh Connect Central crew did a good job of putting us more in the window today, but it’s frustrating to just miss out on the Fast 12. I’m happy to see the progress because we’ve improved, so that’s a positive. It’s still a long race tomorrow, and this track has a lot of overtaking opportunities, so we can fight from there.”

“Not quite the day we were expecting. We were expecting to have a couple of cars in the Fast Six, but still, congrats to Kyle and the No. 27 group on running point for us again. For the 26 Car, I would have expected them to be closer to the 27, but we lost the balance a little bit on the red tires. For Marcus and the 28 group, they have had a challenging weekend. Obviously, they made some progress in qualifying, so hopefully they can build on that for the race tomorrow.”