No. 66 Spectrum Honda crew rebuilds car after practice incident
Indianapolis, Ind. (17 May 2025) – Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) used nearly every single minute of the longest day of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES schedule in Saturday’s attempt to qualify all three of its cars for next Sunday’s Indianapolis 500, but despite yeoman’s work over the seven-hour session, MSR will have to return to the 2.5-mile oval tomorrow to fill its dance card.
However, the day will also feature a chance for the Ohio-based team to earn its best-ever starting spot for the Memorial Day Classic as a strong run from Felix Rosenqvist (No. 60 SiriusXM Honda), who ran the fastest single lap of the day, punched his ticket for tomorrow’s 12-car shootout for the pole position.
The degree of difficulty ratcheted up quickly for MSR when Marcus Armstrong (No. 66 Spectrum Honda) crashed hard in the morning practice session, causing the team to pull the backup car – which was in road-course configuration – off the truck and get it ready for a four-lap qualifying run. The team completed the arduous task with an hour left in the day’s running, but after five laps spread over two aborted attempts, Armstrong was left wait until tomorrow to cement a spot in the 33-car field.
Meanwhile, four-time Indy 500 champion Helio Castroneves (No. 06 Cleveland-Cliffs Honda), solidified a spot in the field with his first qualifying run of the day, then came back later and ran more than 1.3mph faster, vaulting his MSR machine into the 24th starting spot as he looks to become the first driver to ever win five Indy 500 crowns.
The unique Indy 500 qualifying format saw the 13th through 30th starting positions set Saturday, while the fastest 12 drivers advanced to Sunday’s opening session. The slowest four cars in the field will also attempt to earn the 31stthrough 33rd positions on Sunday.
Rosenqvist ran a blistering opening lap on his run (233.334mph) and followed that up with another orbit at more than 233mph on his way to a four-lap average of 232.449mph – a speed that put him eighth among the 34 qualifiers.
The MSR drivers will have a practice session available Sunday prior to Sunday’s final qualifying runs that will set the top 12 along with the final three cars in the 33-car field. Teams can practice from 1 – 4 p.m. ET, tomorrow, followed by two hours of final qualifying. Fans can follow the practice live on FS2, with the qualifying shown live on Fox. SiriusXM will also host live IndyCar Radio coverage on XM Ch. 218.
Meyer Shank Racing Driver Quotes:
Felix Rosenqvist (No. 60 SiriusXM Honda) – Starting TBD, Four-Lap Avg. Speed 232.449 mph: “Qualifying went pretty good for us, but bit of a tough day for the team. A lot of work by everyone in the garage and we were all a little nervy today with the tricky conditions. But we did a good job and I think the car is quite a bit quicker than P8. So I’m pretty excited to go back tomorrow with a new attempt and see if we can get on the front row.”
Helio Castroneves (No. 06 Cleveland-Cliffs Honda) – Starting 24th, Four-Lap Avg. Speed 230.978mph: “Definitely an interesting day for us. However, the team did a great job to find a lot of the issues we had and we were able to execute. Unfortunately was a little late in the day for us to keep trying to improve, so we have to start in a position we were not expecting. But we have a really good race car and can do well next weekend. And hopefully now I can help Marcus to get back on the saddle and put this car in the show tomorrow.”
Marcus Armstrong (No. 66 Spectrum Honda) – No Time: “It was a rather large hit but I’m OK. One of my first reactions when I got to the medical unit was that I’m ready to go flat into Turn One again. We have fast cars and I am looking forward to the race. Massive credit to the MSR crew for putting the car together so quickly. We made our two attempts, the first one we didn’t have telemetry and the second we went out with the same exact set up. I said ‘if the car is good enough to do it, then I’m not going to be the reason we can’t.’”