Grand Prix of Portland Qualifying Report
Portland, Oregon (Saturday, August 24, 2024) – Dale Coyne Racing’s Toby Sowery (No. 51 Vuzix/Quantilus Honda) qualified 21st for Sunday’s Bitnile.com Grand Prix of Portland while his teammate Jack Harvey (No. 18 INVST Honda) qualified 28th.
Toby Sowery, #51 Vuzix/Quantilus, Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Honda
Qualified: 21st
• Sowery took to the track in Group 1, Round 1 of qualifying on an alternate set of Firestone tires
• The rookie registered what would be his fastest time of the 10-minute session on his fourth lap around the 12-turn, 1.964-mile road course.
• He was sitting eighth in his group when he headed to pit lane for a fresh set of the alternate Firestone tire.
• Sowery turned an additional four laps in the session but was unable to improve his time.
• He finished Round 1 of qualifying ahead of Pato O’Ward, 11th in his group, with a fastest lap of 58.7204 seconds.
Post Qualifying Quote
“It was the first time I actually had some clean running on the alternate ‘red’ Firestone tires so it was a learning experience in qualifying, but I think we did a great job. We’re always chipping away, always improving the car. Everything we’ve tried has allowed us to improve and move up the field. Dale Coyne Racing have done a great job this weekend. I’m happy with qualifying, obviously the race is where we’re strong. There’s still a lot of learning to do in final practice and then we’ll be ready for the race.”
Jack Harvey, #18 INVST, Dale Coyne Racing Honda
Qualified: 28th
• The driver of the No. 18 INVST Honda went out in Group 2, Round 1 of qualifying on the primary ‘black’ Firestone tire.
• Harvey registered a fastest time of 59.3217 seconds in his first outing of the 10-minute session.
• He was sitting in 13th when he entered pit lane for a set of alternate ‘red’ Firestone tires.
• While Harvey improved his lap time to 59.1787 seconds, it wasn’t enough to move up the time sheet and he ended the session 14th in his group.
Post Qualifying Quote
“I think qualifying was a little bit weird today. Up to that point, we’d been making really good progress all weekend, we’ve been closing the delta to our competitors. In qualifying we initially went out on blacks. It was okay, and then when we put the red tires on and we didn’t really go any quicker. We’re not sure why at the moment. I felt before qualifying that our pace from practice, if we could have gotten where we wanted to be, was going to be around 18th to 20th. So, to miss it, was frustrating for me and the team. It was kind of confusion more than anything really for us in qualifying.”
Next up: The Bitnile.com Grand Prix of Portland at Portland International Raceway, August 25, 2024, 3pm ET on USA.
