QUALIFYING REPORT: Java House Grand Prix of Monterey

• After finishing second in Friday’s practice session, Colton Herta opened qualifying for the Andretti squad in Group 1, advancing to Round 2 with a fifth-place finish. 
• Round 2 saw Herta initially clock the fourth-fastest lap in his group, but a penalty for the No. 60 bumped the Gainbridge Honda up to second and solidly in the Firestone Fast Six.
• As the California native made his fourth Firestone Fast Six appearance in six starts at Laguna Seca, Herta fought to put the Gainbridge Honda on the pole throughout the six-minute qualifying session, but after only three laps, he ultimately took the checkered in third. 
• Herta will roll off the grid tomorrow in the second row for the first time after starting on the front row three times. 
• Building on his strong qualifying form, Herta topped the leaderboard in Warm Up to conclude the day. 
  

“Overall, I’m happy with today’s result. The Gainbridge Honda has had pace since Toronto, and I always look forward to coming back to Laguna Seca. I think we’ve got plenty of opportunity to make it happen tomorrow and go after the win.”

• As the sole Andretti driver in the second group of the opening round of qualifying, Kyle Kirkwood entered today’s session hoping to replicate last season’s front-row start at Laguna Seca for the JM Bullion Honda.  
• Unfortunately, Kirkwood struggled with traffic on his fast lap, and a snap in the JM Bullion Honda in his final lap kept the Florida native from advancing to Round 2.
• With one top-five and four top-10s on road courses so far this season, Kirkwood will look to lock in his first road course victory of the season.

“The last lap of qualifying wasn’t great. We were really aiming for Lap 2, but I got caught in traffic. Everyone was backing up, and I’m not sure what the others were doing. I never really got a feel for the car, and then had a pretty big snap in the final corner. I was just trying to keep it on track. The JM Bullion Honda was fast, and we had the pace to transfer, but a few unfortunate things got in the way. The upside is we’ll have more tires than most going into the race, so we’ll take that and move forward.”

• After facing a fuel system issue during practice yesterday, Marcus Ericsson joined teammate Herta in Group 1 of Qualifying, looking to secure a strong starting position for the second-to-last road course race of the season. 
• The Swede showed speed early in the session, running as high as first in his group. Unfortunately, Ericsson was unable to maintain the pace as the round progressed and missed out on advancing by just over two-tenths of a second. 
• With three top-10 finishes at Laguna Seca in his five starts, Ericsson will look to capitalize on that consistency and go after another strong result tomorrow.
  
  

“Having a practice session this morning definitely would’ve helped us in qualifying today. We had an issue yesterday with fuel, so we didn’t get a good run. I still think the Delaware Life Honda was fast, but I needed to execute a bit better on my end. The pace was there, but I didn’t put together the clean laps when it counted, and that’s frustrating. We missed advancing by just over two-tenths, so it’s always the little things that make a big difference on days like this.”