What IndyCar drivers said about the $1 Million Challenge at The Thermal Club after qualifying
For an IndyCar event with nothing at stake for the championship, Felix Rosenqvist still marvels at the competition level for the $1 Million Challenge at The Thermal Club.
The Meyer Shank Racing driver won the pole position for the first of two heat races to set the 12-car field for the 20-lap exhibition race with a $500,000 first prize. Less than a half-second separated the top seven in qualifying for the first heat race on the 17-turn, 3.067-mile road course east of Palm Springs, California.
"It's so tight I think everyone could have been on the pole," Rosenqvist said. "Going into this qualifying, in a way we're supposed to feel less pressure being here because there's no points or anything, but I was actually more nervous than ever probably.
IndyCar $1 Million Challenge at Thermal Club: How to watch, schedule, race format, purse
The series will hold its first exhibition event at the track in the Southern California desert.
"It felt really good just getting the lap done with such a tight field. So, yeah, it was really cool."
With a purse of $1.756 million, the inaugural $1 Million Challenge will put IndyCar drivers in the go-for-broke situations found in many other sports' all-star games and competitions. Though all 27 drivers are guaranteed at least $23,000 for entering the event, the prize money jumps for the top five with the winner getting $500,000.
Though starting at the front of the 10-lap heat races should provide an advantage for making the Sprint for the Purse main event, no one feels comfortable. In some unusual competition twists, IndyCar won't be counting caution laps in the heats or the main event, and drivers will be allowed to use push to pass (which provides 60 extra horsepower) from the green flag.
IndyCar starting heat race lineups for $1 Million Challenge at The Thermal Club
The 12-car field for the 20-lap main event will be set by twin 10-lappers Sunday.
"I'm going to put a bumper on the rear because it's going to be tight," Alex Palou said after winning the pole position for the second heat. "With the push to pass being enabled on the start, and the tow, it's going to be tight.
"I think, yeah, nobody's safe. It's obviously the best spot, but it's not guaranteed. There's other races where you say, 'OK, if you're through Turn 1, it's guaranteed you're going to be pretty much top three, top five. Here I don't think it's the case."
Here's what other drivers were saying after qualifying at The Thermal Club:
Scott McLaughlin (qualified second, first heat): “I’m hell-bent. To have a qualifying session which was just bang, bang, bang in a shootout lap, one lap, is pretty awesome and that’s effectively what that was. To do a good job there was good. Congrats to Felix (Rosenqvist). I feel like I could have had him. I just (mucked) up that last corner, but you’ve got to do the lap, it’s pressure, and that’s cool."
Rinus VeeKay (qualified third, first heat): “It’s interesting. Just like this whole weekend, right? It’s different. You’ve got the push-to-pass too, which usually you can focus on one thing, but now we’re pressing a button on the top of the steering wheel. It felt really good. One thing about this track, with the wind and basically a sandstorm that came through, every session, maybe every outing, the car felt different. We just kind of nailed it for the conditions the way they were. A little bit surprised. Didn’t feel as good as in practice, but very, very happy and great job by the guys. ... Staying on track (is the key Sunday). I think that’s my thing. You only have to lead one lap and that’s the last one. First got to make it through to the all-star race and then to the $1 Million Challenge, and then we look forward there. This starting position definitely makes tomorrow a little bit easier ... If I’m close enough, and I see a gap, I’ll definitely go for it.”
Graham Rahal (qualified third, second heat): "That was just an old-fashioned, pull it out, sort of thing. I just need the balance and brake locking to be consistent, and I struggled with it so much. Before the red, I went into Turn 2 and was up, on a better lap than I ended up with but lost the rear tires and lost the lap. We pulled it out, but it was nice to feel the competitiveness. And without as much overtake as others, we were still very competitive there and were able to put one in. This is a pleasant surprise for me.”
Christian Lundgaard (qualified fourth, first heat): "It’s for sure full commitment. I don’t know what Santino (Ferrucci) was doing, if he was that just slow from Turn 7 and back. I knew he’d be in the way, and it was going to be a problem. I think we had at least half a tenth, but we're behind Felix, so it’s a bummer, but I think we showed our true pace earlier. I've got a feeling they’re looking at us as the most competitive car, so I think they should be worried. We just need to go out and have fun. We’re competitive, and I’m happy. The heat races will be different strategy compared to the main race, but at the same time, you've got to take the heat race first. If you're not in the top six, you won't make it to the main race, so there are many ways to approach it, but I think the No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda will be on the right strategy."
Josef Newgarden (qualified fifth, first heat): “I feel solid in race running. It’s a tricky surface. There’s definitely going to be drop off and tire wear, but I think we’re looking after the tires super well so I’m excited for race running. Got to stay out of trouble to start, and then I think our longevity should prove to be pretty competitive. It’s been fun testing here and getting through a list of items and seeing if we can win some money. Chevy’s done a great job. They continue to bring us great performance on the weekend. Excited to get through tomorrow, but also really excited to get back to Long Beach as well and keep proving our worth.”
Tom Blomqvist (qualified fifth, second heat): "I’m really happy. I am slowly, but surely going in the right direction. Yesterday was really difficult for me, but we made really good steps overnight with the car. I’m just focusing on getting more comfortable every lap and learning what I need from the car to go fast.”
Will Power (qualified sixth, first heat): “Because you have push-to-pass, it’s just one lap and big (tire degradation). It’s very difficult to wait two hours, then have a different condition and just go. It’s tough. I did. I tried a couple of different things and made mistakes. It was hard to put all of that together. For Rosenqvist to be P1 is solid. It just depends on what you want to do (in the heat races). I don’t feel like doing much damage for P6 or something. It’s such a short race, anything can happen.”
Pietro Fittipaldi (qualified sixth, second heat): "I’m disappointed because we were on a really fast lap but unfortunately, I got traffic and I had used all my push to pass and then the red flag came out. We went out again for one lap and, honestly, I thought we were done because we didn’t have any push to pass left. And push to pass will gain you about seven 10ths on the lap, and we went out and finished the lap without it and ended up P6, so I’m frustrated because I know with it, we could have been somewhere in the top three, top two. The car was very, very fast. Great job to the whole team. We’re evolving, and I’m happy and very thankful to the team.”
Romain Grosjean (qualified seventh, first heat): “We knew qualifying was going to be a challenge. Very tricky conditions out there. I made a small mistake in our lap that cost us, but we are up there in the mix, so a lot of potential in the car.”
Alexander Rossi (qualified seventh, second heat): "I really have a hard time explaining that one. I think we were three of the fastest cars through most of the past two days, so to end up seventh, eighth and ninth is a big surprise. I think it was all for different reasons. There's nothing left to say, really. It's very surprising and frustrating. I know we have good cars, so it shouldn't be hard to go forward, but we have our work cut out for us."
Agustin Canapino (qualified eighth, first heat): “We are in a good position. Honestly, the lap wasn’t good. We didn’t find the speed in the fastest corner, and we need to check what happened. But the good thing is we are in a good position for tomorrow to try and make it to the main race. I think the target is try to end better. Of course, we are starting P8 alongside my teammate Romain. We need only to advance two positions. It will be difficult of course. Many good drivers and top teams, but we had a good car, especially in practice. We were much better. For some reason, my car wasn’t good in qualifying again on the faster corners, but I think we can find some speed for tomorrow.”
Callum Ilott (qualified eighth, second heat): "That was a tough one. We had the pace all day; the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet felt great. Unfortunately, the qualifying results didn't show that. We'll have a bit of work to do (Sunday) morning to make it into the big event, but we'll be ready to get back out there and make the most of it."
Pato O’Ward (qualified ninth, second heat): "This track is very sensitive to heat, wind. It was getting really gusty, especially there in the back over by the esses. There was a lot of sand on track. You could see it from the rooster tails coming out of the cars. As it was for us, it wasn’t the most perfect lap for me, but I just could never get the car to set. It was always wanting to go the opposite direction of where I wanted it to go. It was a bit of a fight out there, but it seems like we’re not the only ones. A lot of guys are struggling with it, and it’s just really, really gusty and feels icy out there.”
"Those cars are really, really wind sensitive and I feel like we’re getting a taste of that here. Maybe in Indy, where you’re going so fast and the wind is a bit more of a factor. It’s definitely shifted a lot. You think you have a good car, and then you’re going into it and what happened to the balance? Not that if felt horrible, but it just never actually got into, I feel like, an operating window. I feel the tires never got to their sweet spot, and this qualifying session that we’ve with overtake, you’ve got one lap to do it. Once you choose your lap, you’ve got to stick with it. I’m glad that we tried in Lap 2, I think Callum did as well. But it seems that we’re not the only ones that are struggling.”
Kyle Kirkwood (qualified 13th, first heat): "The only damage (from a practice crash) was the rear attenuator. The car's fine, we've just been on the struggle bus. A year ago, we were the fastest thing out there. We’re going to have some work to do (Sunday). Thank God it’s not a points race, I’d be in tears if this was Long Beach."
