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McLaughlin scraped through, taking fifth in Group 2, and qualified seventh all-told after Alexander Rossi bumped him with the last lap of Round 2.
“It’s tight,” said the New Zealander.
“I had a little slide through one of the quick corners in Turn 6 around the back there. Just cost me going up the hill.
“When you lose that momentum going up the hill, it really hurts you.
“The Good Ranchers Chevy has been good. I think we could have easily made the Fast Six, but it’s IndyCar.
“There’s a tenth between seven cars or whatever. Just can’t make a mistake, but ultimately, great starting spot for tomorrow and we’ll see how we go.”
Newgarden qualified 14th and Power 15th, the latter putting his result down to mistiming his final run.
“I probably waited in the pits too long, honestly,” said Power.
“Tried to back off. Just didn’t get enough temp and then was just off cycle.
“It’s always very tough. You can’t screw around. We had the pace, just didn’t put it together.”
Newgarden, meanwhile, commented on brake locking issues which McLaughlin had identified earlier in the weekend.
“We’ve been up and down,” he admitted.
“Yes, throughout the weekend, we’ve had different braking issues, but you’re chasing both ends of the car depending on the temperature in the day.
“We had same thing today. It just keeps moving around.
“So, you’re chasing it session to session, but our car was car was pretty good. I don’t think I don’t think that was the issue.”
With Alex Palou taking pole position, Power is in danger of losing the five-point championship lead which he holds over the Spaniard.
He at least has an extra set of new primary tyres up his sleeve, but is unsure if that will make a difference.
“It’s hard to say,” remarked the Australian.
“I don’t know yet if the reds are going to be good yet. Hopefully.”
Race start is scheduled for Sunday at 18:00 ET/Monday at 08:00 AEST.
