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Qualifying report

Long Beach IndyCar: Top 10 quotes after qualifying

Helio Castroneves wins third straight Long Beach pole with track record

Helio Castroneves, Team Penske Chevrolet

Helio Castroneves, Team Penske Chevrolet

Scott R LePage / Motorsport Images

Polesitter Helio Castroneves, Team Penske Chevrolet
Polesitter Helio Castroneves, Team Penske Chevrolet
Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport Honda
Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport Honda
James Hinchcliffe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda
Alexander Rossi, Herta - Andretti Autosport Honda
Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda
Charlie Kimball, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
Josef Newgarden, Team Penske Chevrolet
Will Power, Team Penske Chevrolet
Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport Honda

Pos.#DriverTeamTimeGap
1 3 brazil Helio Castroneves  Team Penske 1'06.2254  
"This competition in the Verizon IndyCar Series, it's so incredible. It's ridiculous, plus every time you go into a session, it's something different. The track changes, the tires change, traffic... It is absolutely very difficult. The crucial time when it comes, you see everybody hundredths of a second separated from each other. My car felt pretty good. Especially with the reds (Firestone alternate tires), my car came alive from this morning, so the AAA Chevy is working really hard. Today is extra special because Long Beach is a great place. I remember winning here from the pole in 2001 and, the last two years, we were right there. We're not going to let this escape again."
2 9 new_zealand Scott Dixon  Chip Ganassi Racing 1'06.4123 0.1869
"Yeah, bit of a bummer there but congrats to Helio. It was a hell of a lap I think he put together there. The NTT Data car actually had a lot more grip than I expected and kind of caught me off guard I think. Once I felt it I tried to go beyond it a couple of times and just made too many mistakes I think on the qualifying run. I struggled a little bit this weekend on the red tires just with straight-out speed. Unfortunately, I think we are going to be running a lot of reds tomorrow but that's the way it will work out. But I'm definitely confident in the fact we have a great race car here, all four Ganassi cars have been strong this weekend and hopefully we will see how it plays out."  
3 28 united_states Ryan Hunter-Reay  Andretti Autosport 1'06.4401 0.2147
"Certainly much better than last year (at Long Beach). This team has worked so hard over the offseason and we've all worked together - that's the important thing - a lot of testing and we've definitely found a good direction now. It's great to have this yellow and red DHL Honda back up where it belongs, back up in the sharp end of the grid, especially here at Long Beach. It's been such a special track for me both personally and professionally. To be starting up front like this is definitely a nice surprise, it's a nice break over what we experienced on the street courses. So far, we're checking off the boxes. It's a long way to go and we have a lot of work to do, tomorrow is going to be a tough race. But, the weather is beautiful here in Southern California, the fans are great, the crowd is unbelievable for a Saturday and we've got everybody here from DHL. Big thanks to the Andretti guys for such hard work and hopefully we can make them all proud tomorrow." 
4 5 canada James Hinchcliffe  Schmidt Peterson Motorsports 1'06.5291 0.3037
 "Our weekend has been pretty solid. We rolled off the truck with a pretty decent car. In these weekends when it's so tight, the track time is so limited, that's huge. Yesterday afternoon, we had a little bit of problems. This morning we had a couple problems but we didn't panic. Huge credit to Schmidt Peterson Motorsport. Two Firestone Fast Six appearances for two, which is great. It's just so tight. I think that's been the topic of the weekend, for sure, is how competitive it is. You got to be, I think, in the top six to have a shot at this thing. There's a lot of great cars up there. Going to be perfect execution tomorrow, in the pits, on the racetrack. Hopefully, we can get the Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda to the front."
5 98 united_states Alexander Rossi  Andretti Autosport 1'06.5595 0.3341
"It was a really good day. It was the NAPA Racing team's first (Firestone) Fast Six appearance, which is a huge turn around for Andretti Autosport and Honda from last year. I don't think we maximized all our practice potential, so it was nice to put it out there today in qualifying. The NAPA Auto Parts car has been strong all weekend and now we can look forward to tomorrow." 
6 15 united_states Graham Rahal  Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 1'06.7562 0.5308
"To be able to fight through the things we did as a single car team makes me proud because we tried some big changes overnight and they worked out.  We took ourselves from a place where we were average in terms of being competitive to a place where we were third fast overall in Round 2 of qualifying and ended up qualifying sixth based on our time in Round 3. We had an issue in Round 3 which was disappointing but based on where we were on Friday, I'm happy to have made the Firestone Fast Six. I'm pleased with the car, pleased with where we stand against the competition.  Now we just have to work on a couple of little things to improve for the race and try to get the PennGrade Honda in Victory Lane." 
7 83 united_states Charlie Kimball  Chip Ganassi Racing 1'06.5404 0.3150
"Obviously after yesterday I am really pleased to qualify seventh today. I think we made the car a lot better overnight which showed this morning. We were able to make some more improvements for qualifying, so pretty happy with that being within a hundredth of making the Firestone Fast Six is a new version of frustrating. I'm obviously pleased I think tomorrow we should have a good car, put together clean stops a clean race through the first couple laps, and settle into a rhythm. I know my guys will get the job done really well in pit lane we just have to put the laps together and get the fuel mileage we need and see where we end up at the end of the day." 
8 2 united_states Josef Newgarden  Team Penske 1'06.6074 0.3820
"The Hum by Verizon Chevrolet was good enough to transfer, but we just couldn't make it happen. It's nothing to spend a lot of time thinking about. We just need to move on to Sunday and get to the front. The car is plenty fast. We'll see what we can do strategy-wise and see how the cautions fall and make some decisions from there." 
9 12 australia Will Power  Team Penske 1'06.6145 0.3891
 "It's a little disappointing, to be honest. We just couldn't put together a solid lap. I'm not exactly sure what happened behind me on the thing with Simon (Pagenaud) and Helio (Castroneves). I was gearing up for a fast lap and trying to gauge the traffic in front. We came up a little short overall, and we'll just hit the track tomorrow ready to go. The Verizon Chevy team gave me a great car and it will be awesome again tomorrow."
10 27 united_states Marco Andretti  Andretti Autosport 1'06.6222 0.3968
"We lucked out on transferring into Round 2 - I had a huge moment there and were lucky to not come back on the hook. So, we were lucky to transfer and missed the Firestone Fast Six by half-a-tenth (of a second). To qualify the UFD car 10th and miss Round 3 by half a tenth, it shows you what Indy car racing is all about - it's super tight. Every hundreth (of a second) counts and it's going to make for a great race tomorrow." 

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