Photo Credit: Chris Jones/IndyCar
Jack Hawksworth, driver of the No. 41 ABC Supply Honda, had a wonderful qualification session for the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis as he will start the race in the fourth position.
“Yeah, no, it was good,” Hawksworth stated. “Seems like an eternity since I’ve been in the Fast Six. Nice to be up here again. Great day for the team. We had a very good car on the new reds in the first group, seemed to work well in the second as well. Didn’t quite have enough at the end. But overall it was a really good day for us. We really needed it, as well. Now we focus forward for the race, see what we can do.”
This isn’t Hawksworth’s first time qualifying well at the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Two years ago for the inaugural Grand Prix, he qualified in the second position.
“I had a fun race here back in 2014,” Hawksworth said. “Racing for Bryan (Herta) back then. Qualified on the front row. Was able to get the lead on the first restart. Led a bunch of laps. But unfortunately it didn’t work out in terms of the result in the end. Certainly a track I enjoy. Just nice to be back in the Fast Six.”
The road course at IMS is not the same as other road courses they go to during the season. As a result, Firestone has to give them a different tire then they do at the other ones.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s a bit tricky, seems to have been this year for us,” Hawksworth added. “We’ve gone to many places this year, been competitive on the blacks, comes to the reds in qualifying for various reasons hasn’t worked out. There’s a balance shift between the blacks and the reds. Not being able to test on the reds makes it extremely tricky to get it right for that one lap.
“But I think we’re beginning to get an understanding of where it goes and what we need. Obviously the red tire is different, as well, road course to road course. This one is the same as Mid-Ohio. The Barber tire is different. Always a little bit different.”
For some reason Hawksworth seems to do well at this track as he usually starts well and runs a good race.
“Honestly, I don’t think there really is a reason. I just happened to have had good cars here, to be honest. I don’t really have a favorite track or a track that I dislike. If it goes right and left, they’re all the same to me.
“We’ve got a good car here. We had a good car last year. We took that, adapted it to the circumstances with the new aero kit this year, seemed to work well. The track is good fun, good fun for racing on. I don’t think there’s anything real special about what I’m doing out there. I do the same thing at all the circuits. Good car underneath you.”
