LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 20, 2024) --AJ Foyt Racing drivers Santino Ferrucci and Sting Ray Robb had one of those character-building days today on the streets of Long Beach.
Electrical gremlins surfaced in yesterday's practice that shortened their time on track; the intermittent gremlins reappeared today for Ferrucci as he missed most of the morning practice before qualifying this afternoon.
Although the electrical problems seem to have been fixed after the Sexton Properties crew replaced all of the components that could be the source of the issues, the lack of track time had an impact on performance. He will start 24th in the 27-car field.
"We've been dealing with a couple of issues-electrical and a couple of other things in FP1 (free practice 1)," said Ferrucci. "In the second session, which is when you run three sets of tires and get qualifying simulations in, we only got our install stuff done. We put a set of new tires on and went out and then had another issue. We are trying to find the gremlin in the car, we had the same issue at the open test. It's real tough when you don't know what it is. I am proud of our Sexton Chevrolet crew for sending us back out there. We are trying hard here at AJ Foyt Racing. With one lap of practice for qualifying, we just haven't been able to get where we need to be. We are just kind of flying blind."
The spillover effect of Ferrucci's problems impacted young Robb's performance in the No. 41 Pray.com Chevrolet as well since the 22-year-old couldn't utilize his veteran teammate's feedback to help sort out his car. A miscommunication during Robb's qualifying session exacerbated the situation and Robb will start 25th tomorrow.
Both drivers and their hard-working crews will have their work cut out for them tomorrow on the 11-turn, 1.968-mile temporary street circuit in the 49th running of the historic grand prix.
One bright spot in the pre-race activities was the No. 14 Sexton Properties crew beating Team Penske in the Thursday night pitstop competition held on Shoreline Drive. That determination will be in full force tomorrow as the AJ Foyt Racing drivers and crews strive to end their weekend on a high note.
Felix Rosenqvist posted a time of 1 minute, 6.0172 seconds (107.317mph) to win the pole which was Meyer Shank Racing's first ever pole position in the NTT INDYCAR Series. Rounding out the Firestone Fast Six were Will Power, Josef Newgarden, Colton Herta, Marcus Ericsson and Alex Palou.
Teams will have a 30-minute warmup tomorrow morning before the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beah which will be televised live on the USA Network starting at 3 p.m. ET. The 85-lap race will also be streamed on Peacock and INDYCAR LIVE and aired on the INDYCAR Radio Network.
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