Marks MSR’s best starting position of the 2023 NTT INDYCAR Season ahead of 100th IndyCar start
Detroit, Mich., (3 June 2023) – A brand-new racetrack provided a fresh start for Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) in downtown Detroit on Saturday as Simon Pagenaud (No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda) set a season-best qualifying effort, earning an eighth place starting spot for Sunday’s Detroit Grand Prix (3:00pm ET, NBC, SiriusXM Ch. 160).
Pagenaud claimed eighth place on the grid with a time of 1:02.186-seconds on his last lap around the new 1.645-mile downtown Detroit street circuit that replaced the temporary Belle Isle road course.
The Frenchman’s best lap had him in position to move into the Firestone Fast Six with less than a minute to go in the session, but in the end, he fell just .126 seconds short of moving on. He finished fifth in the opening qualifying run with a time of 1:02.395-seconds to punch his ticket for the second qualifying session.
Helio Castroneves (No. 06 AutoNation / Cleveland-Cliffs Honda) will start 23rd after a rough opening qualifying session that saw the Brazilian’s final qualifying lap end in a spin, negating his charge and leaving him on the inside of Row 12.
MSR will be making its 100th IndyCar start when the green flag flies on Sunday’s race and will be seeking back-to-back top-10 runs in Detroit, following Pagenaud’s ninth-place run at Belle Isle with MSR a year ago.
Sunday’s 100-lap Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix will air on NBC on Sunday starting at 3 p.m. ET. SiriusXM which is running it’s ‘Listen Free’ event will host live IndyCar Radio coverage on XM Ch. 160. Sign up to listen free here: siriusxm.us/MSRLF.
Meyer Shank Racing Driver Quotes:
Simon Pagenaud:
“It’s awesome to be fast and be running up front with everybody where we belong. I’m glad we could show it today. We had some issues last night, the guys worked late and fixed it and I am really happy to reward them with this P8. It’s an interesting track, it’s so technical, you have to hit everything perfect with the bumps and there’s a lot of activity inside the car. I think we have a really good chance tomorrow as long as we stay clean and make it to the end.”
Helio Castroneves:
“Tough day. Yesterday we missed some of the second practice and we didn’t know what to expect with the red tires. The session wasn’t going that badly, I was actually doing pretty well, unfortunately I got a little aggressive on the throttle in Turn Two and spun out. But with this track and the way it can be so crazy, anything can happen so we’ll keep our nose clean and try to make our way to the front.”