Elkhart Lake, WI (June 25, 2016) – Dale Coyne Racing registered its best start of the season on Saturday with Conor Daly placing ninth on the grid for Sunday’s Kohler Grand Prix at Road America.
Daly was quick right from the start of qualifying in Round 1. He placed second in Group 2 on his first lap and jumped up to first on his second lap with a time of 1:43.4693.
With a red flag coming out with one minute left in the 12-minute session and Daly still in first place, it meant the American would move on to the second round of qualifying for the first time this season.
Once in the second round, Daly continued to show his speed, initially placing as high as fourth before ending up ninth when the checkered fell on the session with a lap time of 1:43.1073, giving him his career best Verizon IndyCar Series start.
Teammate Gabby Chaves placed third early on in the Group 1 session, but his best lap time of 1:43.6672, registered on his last lap, was only good enough to place him 10th in his group and 19th on the starting grid.
The KOHLER Grand Prix will go green on Sunday, June 26 at 1:15pm ET and will be broadcast live on NBCSN starting at 12:30pm ET.
What they have to say:
Conor Daly – #18 Jonathan Byrd’s Hospitality
“We have a goal every weekend to try and improve on our last road race result and to keep improving. We got our fifth place qualifying taken from us in Detroit which is a shame but this was more of a legit qualifying session. The car felt good. We weren’t at the tail end of that second group either and that means a lot for us and we got held back on our fastest lap as well which is a shame because of an overboost penalty, but it’s part of the game. To be qualifying in the top 10 that’s what you need to take advantage of things in the race, this gives us better options on strategy and it makes it a little easier on the brains up in the stand to make the calls.”
Gabby Chaves – #19 Boy Scouts of America
“I think we expected different conditions, the car wasn’t exactly how I’d want it but this is how these things go, sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn’t. Maybe we’ll take the lead on what our teammate is doing, they seem to be finding a way to progress a little bit better than we are.”
dalecoyneracing.com 