Callum and Agustín content after Alabama qualifying
Birmingham, AlabamaApril 29, 2023
Callum Ilott will start tomorrow’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix from P15, while Juncos Hollinger Racing team-mate Agustín Canapino will line up P22 on the grid.
Both men drove in separate qualifying groups at Barber Motorsports Park this afternoon and couldn’t quite find the performance they needed to break into the ‘Fast 12’ on the undulating 2.3-mile road course.
Using Firestone’s red-walled soft tire, Callum was eighth quickest in his group as he recorded a best lap of 1m 06.064s. The Briton was 0.475s off the front-running pace.
Agustín meanwhile, showed solid pace on his first visit to Barber. The Argentine rookie’s time of 1m 06.515s was nine tenths shy of the benchmark as his session ended.
“Overall, I’m happy with the progress we’ve been making and we’re heading in the right direction”
Callum Ilott said:
“So, we start from P15. The car felt quite good and we improved a lot. It’s just missing in one or two areas right now. But overall, I’m happy with the progress we’ve been making and we’re heading in the right direction. I think this is a better track for us, especially in the race, and I think we’ll be alright. We’ve got a few things to work on overnight and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
“We improved a lot from practice to this point, so we will start tomorrow from P22 ahead of some much more experienced guys than me”
Agustín Canapino said:
“It was a good qualifying session and I’m really happy with the result. We improved a lot from practice to this point, so we will start tomorrow from P22 ahead of some much more experienced guys than me. Overall, I’m happy with that and tomorrow the ambition is to do a good race.”
“We were much faster on both cars this morning and I think Agustín was much happier in qualifying and I think Callum is happy also”
Ricardo Juncos said:
“I think we’ve improved the car a lot, bearing in mind we’re using different tyres to last year, so we’re catching up a little bit. We were much faster on both cars this morning and I think Agustín was much happier in qualifying and I think Callum is happy also. For sure, we need to improve ahead of the warm-up tomorrow and continue the trend of finding more speed through the weekend. I’m looking forward to a good race tomorrow.”
Reece Gold headed JHR team-mate Matteo Nannini at the end of INDY NXT qualifying for tomorrow’s Firestone Grand Prix of Alabama.
With the session lasting only eight minutes on Saturday afternoon, making a fast start was crucial. Reece did just that has he guided his #76 car to P7 overall. His best time of 1m 11.214s was just four tenths off pole.
Matteo made a good improvement after a frustrating time during practice and placed his #75 machine in P12 – just two tenths behind his team-mate.
“P12 isn’t too bad a starting position and a lot of things can happen, especially in INDY NXT”
Matteo Nannini said:
“We were missing quite a bit of speed in qualifying but we are working on it and hopefully we can recover in the race tomorrow. P12 isn’t too bad a starting position and a lot of things can happen, especially in INDY NXT. Hopefully tomorrow will be our day.”
“I’m happy where we’ve finished and I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s race – but we still have work to do”
Reece Gold said:
“P7 in qualifying was a good recovery because the practice sessions yesterday and earlier today weren’t that good. I’m happy where we’ve finished and I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s race – but we still have work to do. Thanks to Ticket Clinic and Juncos Hollinger for making it possible.”