PREMA Racing will line up from 18th and 27th with Robert Shwartzman and Callum Ilott respectively for its NTT INDYCAR SERIES debut at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
After two 45-minute practice sessions, the pair took the softer Firestone tires to the 2.897-kilometre track for their qualifying runs in a close-fought battle for the grid positions as lap times tumbled.
Lining up for its first qualifying session in a series where every thousand of a second can make a huge difference, the team continued to climb its learning curve in an effort to gain chemistry and knowledge, overcoming some earlier issues.. The management of the alternate tyres proved particularly tricky and unforgiving for the whole field, with drivers often forced to put everything together in one lap.
Shwartzman continued getting up to speed nicely ahead of his first race in the category after experiencing some issues in practice. The Israeli worked his way into the top 10 of his group, maximizing the result despite being the only driver with no prior experience at the track.
Ilott meanwhile started the segment well but could not put a competitive lap together in a challenging session. 100 laps around the St. Petersburg circuit await the team and drivers in Sunday’s race, with the green flag falling at 12:29 EST.
#83 - Robert Shwartzman
“Overall I don't think it was a bad qualifying because of all the issues we had in free practice. We barely got any laps in, so we maximised everything we could. I also had my first experience of how the qualifying works here. Also, these tires are something new, something different to what I am used to, so it is really something to have to learn because the whole group level is extremely different to whatever I’ve experienced before. So, definitely something to work on. But for now, we have to build from where we are. Tomorrow is going to be an interesting race, the first race of the season, and let's see how we're going to perform from there.”
#90 - Callum Ilott
“It was not a solid qualifying. We need to look into it quite a bit. We just couldn't get the tires to work and couldn't put anything together. I think if we were able to add something, we would be a little bit closer. I think it was just a messy session and everything you want to not happen happened. We can make some changes for tomorrow and at least we can only go forwards.”