Scott Dixon has admitted that qualifying 21st for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis is a “horrendous” outcome.
The six-time IndyCar champion was, relatively speaking, nowhere near getting out of the first round of qualifying on the Brickyard’s road course, missing the top six in his group by more than three tenths of a second.
According to Dixon, his Chip Ganassi Racing crew was making big changes to chase a set-up, which made the job that much harder again in the driver’s seat.
“Just frustrated; I think everybody can see that,” he said on the television broadcast shortly after vacating the #9 Honda.
“We’re just making swings where we shouldn’t be and, I don’t know, it’s just a different car every time you go out.
“So, trying to adjust for that and then find the best balance… I don’t know.
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“Honestly, it sucks right now; we’ve got to sort it out.
“I feel like our race pace has been good. Everybody on the PNC Bank side [Dixon’s crew] has done a tremendous job, and if you qualify this far back, it’s horrendous.”
The result continues a shocking run for the New Zealander in so much that he qualified 13th for the previous race of the season at Barber Motorsports Park, and 16th at Long Beach in the event before that.
It also stands in stark contrast to the performance of team-mate Alex Palou, who was on pole for the Indy GP until Will Power’s very late effort and will still start on the front row.
However, Dixon was not the only driver cutting a figure of bemusement after an early exit from qualifying.
Rinus VeeKay went from scoring pole position at Barber to being buried in 15th on the starting grid at Indianapolis.
More perplexing was the fact that the #21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet had been fourth-fastest in Practice 2, only hours earlier, and quickest by multiple tenths of a second when the field rolled out initially on primary tyres in Round 1 of qualifying.
“I honestly don’t know,” said VeeKay on Peacock.
“We were fastest on the blacks by a mile in qualifying here right now and we went to reds, and I was honestly pretty happy with the car and pretty happy with my lap.
“I’m very, very confused by being eighth [in his group] right now, so I don’t know.
“I’ll have to look into it, but I don’t know what we did wrong.”
Two sessions remain, both on Sunday morning (AEST), namely the Warmup at 00:30 and the Race at 05:45.
That 85-lapper will be streamed live and ad-free on Stan Sport, with coverage starting at 05:00 AEST.
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