Brazilian Helio Castroneves failed to make it past the first round in qualifying for the Elkhart Lake GP and complained of a lack of rear grip on red tires
Brazilian Helio Castroneves didn't get a good result in the qualifying for the Elkhart Lake GP this Saturday (11). In a strong group, with names like Álex Palou, Josef Newgarden and Pato O'Ward, the Meyer Shank driver ended up eighth in the group, and will start in 16th place for this Sunday's race at the Road America circuit, which will have Alexander Rossi in the pole-position for the first time in three years.
Helinho's disappointment was greater because the car looked good after the second free practice, when he was 13th. But when it came time for qualifying, the behavior of Meyer Shank's car was different than expected, and the Brazilian suffered to get grip on the red tires.
"Yesterday was kind of a crazy day, but we managed to get on track and had a pretty decent performance this morning, but when it came to qualifying the car started to come off the back with the red [tires]," Castroneves reported.
"This circuit is very long and unfortunately if you make a little mistake, it's gone. We literally missed out by a tenth in our group, but at the end of the day we're going to do everything we can to put the car in front in the race," said the four-time Indianapolis 500 champion.
Helinho has never won at Road America, a circuit that has seen three wins for Emerson Fittipaldi and four more victories by Brazilians. The start of the GP of Elkhart Lake is scheduled for 1:45 pm EST, with complete coverage by GRANDE PRÊMIO.