INDYCAR QUALIFYING REPORT: Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix
Qualifying Notes
- Following a week off of on-track action, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES took on Barber Motorsports Park for the first road course qualifying session of the season.
- With this morning’s practice cut short by a red flag and early checkered flag for on-track fence repair, Will Power, Kyle Kirkwood and Marcus Ericsson came into qualifying looking to utilize their 25 combined starts at the 2.3-mile circuit to make it into the Firestone Fast Six.
- Kirkwood led the charge for the Andretti Global trio, securing a fifth-place starting position, with Ericsson starting not far behind in eighth. Unfortunately, Power had an issue early in the first round that resulted in session-ending contact and a 23rd starting position.
- Fans can tune in live as drivers take on the Alabama Rollercoaster for the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix tomorrow on FOX at 1 pm ET.
Qualifying Results
Will Power
No. 26 TWG AI Honda
P23
- Leading off qualifying for Andretti Global in Group 1, Will Power made his 16th qualifying attempt on the Alabama circuit.
- Power showed early pace at the top of the leaderboard before making contact with the barrier in Turn 5.
- Lining up 23rd tomorrow, the Australian will look to capitalize on his strong history at Barber, where the TWG AI driver has led 216 laps with two wins and three poles.
“Today was unfortunate. We’ll take a look and find the issue. It’s a shame for qualifying because I think the TWG AI Honda was strong. I haven’t really put a clean lap together all weekend, but the car has been good. We’ll get it fixed and fight forward tomorrow.”
Kyle Kirkwood
No. 27 JM Bullion / Gold.com Honda
P5
- After finishing second in both Practice 1 and Practice 2, Kyle Kirkwood qualified in Group 2 alongside Ericsson.
- He topped the leaderboard in both rounds before advancing to his first Firestone Fast Six at Barber Motorsports Park.
- In the Firestone Fast Six, the No. 27 JM Bullion / Gold.com Honda crew made the decision to go out on used alternate tires before ultimately taking the checkered in fifth.
- With a recent victory in Arlington, and currently leading the INDYCAR Championship standings, Kirkwood will make his fifth start tomorrow at Barber Motorsports with hopes of adding his first road course win to his resume.
“It was a good day for us in the JM Bullion / Gold.com Honda. There were a lot of Hondas in the Fast Six, so it was good to see where we were. We ran used tires there, so it wasn’t completely unexpected to be a little further back in the Firestone Fast Six. We’re glad we solidified ourselves in that group and are happy with today’s performance.”
Marcus Ericsson
No. 28 Allegra Honda
P8
- Following a strong practice session earlier this morning that saw him finish in the top seven on the leaderboard, Marcus Ericsson took on qualifying for the seventh time at Barber Motorsports Park.
- After posting the fifth-fastest lap in Round 1, Ericsson advanced to Round 2 alongside Kirkwood, where he climbed as high as P1 on the leaderboard. The Swede ultimately missed out on the Firestone Fast Six by just 0.0248 seconds.
- Today’s result marks the Swede’s second-best starting position at Barber Motorsports Park.
“I think it was a good session for us. We made improvements throughout the weekend with the Allegra Honda and got it into a good window for qualifying. It’s a bit frustrating to miss out on the Firestone Fast Six by just a couple hundredths. It would have been nice to fight for pole, but overall it was a solid session. We’ve put ourselves in a good spot for tomorrow, and the whole No. 28 crew has done a great job so far. I’m looking forward to going racing.”
Ron Ruzewski
INDYCAR Team Principal
“Great job by everyone this weekend to bring competitive cars to Barber. It hasn’t been one of our strongest tracks in the past, but we put in a lot of work and came here with cars contending for the pole. It’s unfortunate what happened with Will Power’s car, but we’ll get to the bottom of it and rebound. We’ll look at some creative strategy tomorrow to move forward, and hopefully Kyle and Marcus can put themselves in a position for a solid race.“
