Power, O'Ward lead spate of disappointed St. Pete qualifiers
03/01/2025 06:58 PM
Pato O'Ward didn't know what to say, other than, "I don't have an explanation for you, really," when asked about his stupefying run to 23rd in qualifying at St. Petersburg on Saturday.
The Arrow McLaren ace was one of several drivers who were unable to extract the best from their high-grip and short-lifespan tires before they surrendered peak performance. After a long offseason where O'Ward and many of the other disappointed qualifiers imagined earning pole position, there were some harsh reality checks for some of IndyCar's best.
“I just couldn’t get the Firestone alternates switched on. We had two opportunities," said O'Ward, who starts an unfamiliar 23rd. "It was just a really tough lap to get together, and it is obviously not ideal for tomorrow. We’ll have our work cut out for us, but I think we can make our way forward and score some solid points tomorrow.”
Team Penske's Will Power was another surprise as he missed the mark due to missing an apex.
"I just carried too much speed into the first corner of that lap and understood why I had to lift," said Power, who was able to salvage 13th. "Just frustrating because I know we have a good car.”
New lead Ed Carpenter Racing driver Alexander Rossi was miffed in 20th.
"I am pretty disappointed," he said. "The No. 20 Java House Chevrolet was in a pretty good spot; we did everything right from a setup standpoint. Unfortunately, I made a small mistake on our first set of tires in Turn 10 which cost us a bit of time. There is a little bit of an unknown as to what happened on the second set, but we will look into it. The car is good, but we have a lot of work to do tomorrow.”
High hopes in qualifying for Graham Rahal at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing were dashed with his run to 21st.
"On my fastest lap, I thought it was a half decent one but then they came on the radio and said I needed another 0.2s to advance to the next round and I just didn't have that," he said. "It's a bummer to not advance and be in a better position for the race but I thought we made some good changes for qualifying, but the understeer level was still too high and we seemingly couldn't take advantage of the new alternate tires. The degradation on the alternates is extreme so it's definitely a big challenge."
Last year's polesitter, Josef Newgarden, wasn't able to repeat the feat and will roll off in 10th.
"We are going to focus on tomorrow now," he said. "You know, 10th isn't bad; it's not great. Even though we don't have a good starting spot, I know our car is good. I just want to have a clean race. Of course, I want to be up front, and I want to win the thing. That's my ultimate dream for tomorrow, but we need to get points on the board. We need to have a good, clean day. I think we can do that."
