Tag: Andretti Autosport

Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta in the No.26 Gainbridge Honda and Romain Grosjean in the No.28 DHL Honda had a solid NTT IndyCar Series season-opening Firestone Grand Prix presented by RP Funding on the streets of St Petersburg as Herta finished fourth and Grosjean was fifth respectively.

Speaking following the action, Colton Herta said:

“The Gainbridge car was very good. We had a clean race which is how you want to start off the year. We were running fifth but got (Rinus) VeeKay there at the end to finish fourth. I am happy about how today’s race went. Even with struggling with some problems that prevented us from going up the order a little more. Overall, I am pretty happy how today went and how the performance of the our Honda was today.”

Romain Grosjean commented saying:

“The first race of the season is done and we came away with a double top five – fourth for Colton (Herta) and fifth for myself. We lacked a bit of something today but we are going to work hard to come back next race. The next street course is Long Beach so we should be good there. I am looking forward to going testing in Texas now.”

Alexander Rossi in the No.27 NAPA AutoNation Honda finished the race in 20th place and speaking following the action he said:

“Nothing really went our way. I think the car was pretty good. Our pace was good when we had clean air. I think we had an aggressive strategy. It could have worked but we had an issue in pitlane where we couldn’t get a tire off. That hurt us, but ultimately a disappointing day. We’ll put this all behind us and move on.”

Devlin DeFrancesco finished his first IndyCar Series race in 22nd place and speaking following the action the Canadian said:

“First INDYCAR race in the books here at St. Pete. The speed seemed to be quite mega. I think the three-stop strategy hurt us a little in the end and getting past the lap traffic. With learning we were catching up to Rossi in the end there. The whole No. 29 crew did a very good job. We have some work to do on pit stops on my end, we lost a bit of time there. I have to thank PowerTap, Jones Soda, Wesana, Fyllo, Damon Motorcycles, Kimoa and Simply Mac. Just everybody that made this happen. Super happy with how everything went.”

Andretti Autosport is the team to beat heading into today’s qualifying session for the Firestone Grand Prix presented by RP Funding on the streets of St Petersburg on Sunday.

Romain Grosjean in the No.28 DHL Honda was the pacesetter on Friday setting a time of 01:01.0525s.

Colton Herta was second fastest in the No.26 Gainbridge Honda while Alexander Rossi had a solid opening day in sixth place.

Devlin DeFrancesco in the No.29 Honda was 13th fastest as he prepares his NTT IndyCar Series race debut this weekend.

Bringing the heat in St. Pete 🔥#AllAndretti / @IndyCar pic.twitter.com/kxs0OL9byz

— Andretti Autosport / #AllAndretti (@FollowAndretti) February 26, 2022

Andretti Autosport’s Romain Grosjean in the No.28 DHL Honda says the team still have some speed to unlock from the car ahead of qualifying on Saturday after he set the fastest time on Friday.

We still have a bit more speed we can get out of the car to get it to my liking, but the car was really good, very smooth to drive. “I know Andretti has got a brilliant car on all the street courses. With Olivier last year, we had a really good car on road courses. Ovals, I know Andretti has got a good car, as well.

“I think with all of us, we can get something good. I’m happy that I’ve got really fast teammates. That’s going to push me to get better.”

Grosjean’s team-mate Colton Herta who won here last year was second fastest and speaking following the action he said:

It was a good start to the weekend here in St. Pete. The car felt very nice but we have a lot to improve on. To start second in the first session is a good place to start. The Gainbridge car is great and it’s another year where it seems like Honda power is very good – especially on street courses which is something to look forward to. Everything is starting out great.”

Alexander Rossi in the No.27 NAPA AutoNation Honda was sixth fastest and speaking following the action he said:

Glad to be back for the first race of the year in St. Pete. It’s an amazing turnout of the fans so far, which is very cool to see on a Friday. The NAPA / AutoNation car was pretty good by the end of the session and obviously the team showed good pace with the other cars. Not a lot to do overnight, just some small changes. We’ll look forward to coming back tomorrow and having the first qualifying session of the year.”

Colton Herta said:

“It was a good start to the weekend here in St. Pete. The car felt very nice but we have a lot to improve on. To start second in the first session is a good place to start. The Gainbridge car is great and it’s another year where it seems like Honda power is very good – especially on street courses which is something to look forward to. Everything is starting out great.”

Devlin DeFrancesco was 13th fastest on his practice debut and speaking following the action he said:

We finished day one here at St. Pete, we ended P13 but all-in-all happy with our first session – happy with where we started. We tried a few things on the car, and I think we look very good as a team. I’d say we’re very happy with our pace on [Firestone Primary] Blacks; we’ve got a good race car on Blacks. Going into tomorrow we’re going to try [Firestone Alternate] Reds for the first time and I’m really looking forward to it.”

Andretti Technologies has confirmed a multi-year partnership with Zapata Computing who will work alongside Andretti Autosport’s NTT IndyCar Series team trackside.

Christopher Savoie, CEO of Zapata said:

The Zapata team is thrilled to partner with Andretti and put our Orquestra quantum software platform to work in the pursuit of a competitive edge that no other racing team can match. “The Zapata P.I.T. Center’s analytics environment is this ‘edge’ manifested in a real world, mobile and deployed setting. Our companies have the same DNA of always competing to win, and we can’t wait until the 2022 season kicks off to begin putting all this work into action.”

Andretti Autosport Chairman and CEO Michael Andretti said:

We’re excited to be working with a true leader in quantum computing through our partnership with Zapata. “INDYCAR racing is all about finding every possible edge and then maximizing it. Zapata’s expertise gives us that advantage through their Orquestra quantum software platform and expert scientists and engineers. The partnership is going to propel both organizations to great things this year and beyond.”

Andretti Autosport head into the NTT IndyCar Series season-opening Firestone Grand Prix presented by RP Funding on the streets of St Petersburg this weekend with two new drivers as Romain Grosjean steps up to a full-time drive in the No.28 DHL Honda.

Looking ahead to the start of the season, Grosjean said:

“We have a big year ahead as a team and having some experience in IndyCar will be important. I didn’t really know what to expect at the Sebring test, but the test went really well. It was great working with the crew, engineers and teammates as well. We have some things we can improve upon before St. Pete but I’m very happy with the first feel I got with Andretti. The goal is to win some races and score as many points as we can this year.”

Grosjean’s strategist, Olivier Boisson has joined the Frenchman from Dale Coyne Racing while his race engineer this year is Josh Frued.

Delvin DeFrancesco will make his NTT IndyCar Series race debut this weekend in the No.29 PowerTap Honda with Andy Liste suffering as his race engineer while veteran Andretti strategist Rob Edwards will serve as his strategist.

The team’s main aim is to win the championship and challenge for victory in the Indianapolis 500 in May.

“I’m super excited to drive St. Pete this year. The IndyCar is amazing to drive. I think the brakes are the biggest difference between the IndyCar and the Indy Lights car at this track. I expect the IndyCar to be easier to drive over the bumps. The biggest challenge for me, I think, will be adapting to the reds and having to save fuel- things like that. It is a bigger, heavier car so a couple corners may be a little trickier. But all in all, I’m super excited for what’s to come.”

Alexander Rossi in the No.27 NAPA Auto Parts AutoNation Honda retains Jeremy Milless as his race engineer while Brian Barnhart will serve as his strategist.

Speaking ahead of the race this weekend, Rossi says:

“Thrilled that the first race of the season is around the corner. We have a lot of confidence heading into St. Pete based on the pace we have had there in the past. I’m looking to show up this weekend and ignore all the noise and excitement of the season opener and focus on our jobs to make sure we execute on track. I think we have to take everything one weekend at a time, and we will see what this brings us.”

Colton Herta will be aiming to continue his momentum from last season and score back-to-back wins at St Pete and has Nathan O’Rourke as his race engineer while his dad and ex-IndyCar driver Bryan continues as his strategist.

“Super excited to be getting the season going. A new year and a new set of challenges. Me and the crew have a bunch of confidence going into this year. St Pete is always an exciting race with a track that’s quite hard to put a lap together. I can’t wait to get in my Gainbridge Honda and get things kicked off right.”

Andretti Autosport Chairman and CEO, Michael Andretti says:

“Opening the INDYCAR season in St. Pete is always something we look forward to. There is always a strong fan presence and the city makes a great hosting location for our partners. We have a great lineup across the eight cars we’ll have on track this weekend in Indy Lights and INDYCAR. The drivers and crews have all been working really hard in the off-season and are ready to get on track and defend our 2021 wins.”