IndyCar Long Beach

O’Ward: Qualifying fight will be “as tight as it’s ever been”

Despite leading first IndyCar practice at Long Beach by over quarter of a second, Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward believes the qualifying battle will be a close battle.

David Malsher-Lopez

Published: Apr 15, 2023, 1:38 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Practice ended with O’Ward leading Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon by 0.265sec, his 1m06.6999s effort ensuring he was the only driver to average more than 106mph around the 1.968-mile street course.

“We got into the window,” said O’Ward who currently leads the championship after runner-up finishes in the first two rounds of the 2023 season. “It's tight, man.

“I think qualifying is going to be as tight as it's probably ever been. I think it puts a lot of emphasis on just the little mistakes you can make.”

He later added, “I guess I nailed down the lap. Yeah, it felt good. The little changes that got done to the track maybe not completely changed the setup, but I think it allows you to do a couple different things. You can get away with a couple more things that you couldn't years past.

“But where did it come from? I don't know. I guess, yeah, I was just driving!”

Regarding the resurfacing that has been done on the track from Turns 6 to 8, O’Ward said: “It's a lot better. I think what's made it a little bit trickier is where the new asphalt meets the old one in Turn 8. It reminds you of Turn 3. It's smooth moving in, but it's a smaller scale, not as quick, but there’s definitely a bump there. I think that will be something to watch throughout the weekend.”

O’Ward said that the cold temperatures and the track surface contributed to quick times for FP1 on primary (harder) Firestones.

“I thought today was beautiful,” he said. “The track is definitely quicker than what it was last year. There's not as much rubber down, but the track is fast. I think the more cars laying down rubber, it's just probably going to gain and gain and gain.

“The tires and the engines like the colder temperatures rather than it being really hot.”

Despite his obvious speed, O’Ward said he wasn’t going to be cocky about his chances in the hunt for pole on Saturday afternoon.

“Things can change really quick in IndyCar. It's so competitive. So I think what we'll do now is just try and make it better. There's always things you can improve on. Come tomorrow, go out there and just execute. I think that's the most important part.

“You can have the quickest car, but if you don’t get the lap together, you're looking at a harder Sunday than what it should be. I think tomorrow will just be about getting the laps down and not making the silly mistakes that can put you back.”

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article McLaughlin: IndyCar “is where I want to be… no other aspirations”

Next article IndyCar Long Beach: O’Ward leads Kirkwood, Grosjean in FP2

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

"Two steps forward, one step back" – Oscar Piastri explains the route out of McLaren's car woes

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Mexican GP

49 min

"Two steps forward, one step back" – Oscar Piastri explains the route out of McLaren's car woes

Denny Hamlin proud of season despite another likely missed title

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Martinsville II

1 h

Denny Hamlin proud of season despite another likely missed title

Max Verstappen jokes about Daniel Ricciardo's Le Mans ambition: "He's a smart man picking me!"

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Mexican GP

2 h

Max Verstappen jokes about Daniel Ricciardo's Le Mans ambition: "He's a smart man picking me!"

Alex Albon dismisses Fernando Alonso criticism: 'F1 has no more pay drivers'

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Mexican GP

2 h

Alex Albon dismisses Fernando Alonso criticism: 'F1 has no more pay drivers'

Feature

Discover prime content

How Spanish engineering and Alex Palou brought IndyCar to Barcelona

Feature

IndyCar

Feature

IndyCar 4 h

By Joey Barnes

How Spanish engineering and Alex Palou brought IndyCar to Barcelona

Inside AJ Foyt Racing’s transition: Hauger’s arrival, Ferrucci’s future, and the Pierson waiting game

Feature

IndyCar

Feature

IndyCar

By Joey Barnes

Inside AJ Foyt Racing’s transition: Hauger’s arrival, Ferrucci’s future, and the Pierson waiting game

You Ask The Questions: David Malukas

IndyCar

By Joey Barnes

You Ask The Questions: David Malukas

Top 10 Ganassi IndyCar drivers of all time

IndyCar

By John Oreovicz

Top 10 Ganassi IndyCar drivers of all time

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts