14th place finish for Conway at Barber

Mike Conway finished 14th at the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama on Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.

Conway qualified his No. 20 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka Chevrolet 21st on Saturday, after suffering a lockup on his first lap of qualifying, which then affected the balance of the car. However having come from 17th to win on the streets of Long Beach two weeks ago, Conway thought it could be possible again.

After a two and a half hour delay due to severe storms in the area, the race was declared a timed 100-minute event and a mandatory wet tyre start. When the green flag was shown, Conway tried to make some early moves, but his car lacked gripped on the initial wet track. After about 25 laps, the track started to dry and the decision was taken to pit for the slick alternate (red) tyres. The 30-year-old was then able to gain some grip and began to make his move through the field. By lap 39, Conway was in 14th position and looked to be heading for another top-10 finish. The ECR team brought him in for his final stop and when he rejoined the race, battled with Takuma Sato and Jack Hawksworth for positions. Unfortunately the yellow flag came out with five minutes remaining and the race ended under caution with Conway having to settle for 14th. He now sits fifth in the championships standings with 82 points, just 10 away from third.

"It was a pretty long day for us,” said Conway. "I guess we’ll have to take 14th after starting 21st. We struggled in the wet with overall grip. I tried to make a few moves in the early portion of the race and they just didn’t work out. We felt quicker on the slicks, especially on the earlier segments of the runs. But once everyone had their tyres up to temperature, we couldn’t get up to make a move. It’s frustrating. I hope we can improve on the road circuits. I’m excited to go to Indy for the test this week on the new road circuit. The upcoming Grand Prix of Indianapolis will be huge for all of the drivers. I think everyone would love to win the first IndyCar road race at Indy, but we need to work on the setup some more to fight for a win that weekend.”

The fourth round of the Verizon IndyCar Series season will be the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, May 8-10, 2014.

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