Coyne says team’s qualifying policy is paying off

While in each of the three qualifying segments on road/street course qualifying, most teams send their drivers out on exploratory laps on the harder black-sidewalled compound to set “banker” times, Coyne has been sending Luca Filippi straight out on softer rubber.

And for the second consecutive race, it has paid off. In Long Beach, Luca Filippi and Conor Daly started 12^th and 13^th, while in Barber Motorsports Park, Filippi again made it through to the Q2 segment, and will start 12^th.

Coyne told Motorsport.com: “The advantage of sending them out on red [alternate] tires right away in Q1 is that you give the drivers the feel for the car on reds right away.

“They get the experience for the increased grip levels and that gives them more confidence sooner… and yeah, it’s worked for us.

“If 12^th is about the best we can get – which honestly it probably is at this stage, for us – then you use two sets of reds to get to that point. The faster cars around you then use their second set of reds to try and get into the [Firestone] Fast Six, so it all balances out.”

“In Q1 everyone else goes out and does two laps on blacks and three laps on reds, whereas we go out and do three laps on each set of reds.”

Coyne said that Daly’s problems at Barber were just fractions of a second given away here and there.

“Conor only had a couple of hiccups, but one little wiggle and one little wheelspin and that’s a tenth of a second gone. With that tenth, he would have transferred.

“So you’ve got to be really smooth and you’ve got to peak with the tires.”