Wind and traffic limit the potential of several stars in IndyCar qualifying at GPSTPETE
used up two sets in Q1 to get through to the top 12 due to being baulked on qualifying runs, thus were at a disadvantage of having available only used sets once they advanced to Q3/Firestone Fast Six.
Kirkwood’s problems got much worse when he was caught out by the tailwind on the run down to the final turn, locking up his left front and understeering off into the concrete barrier. “I just locked up on entry and the way the downwind section is at the moment it's a little bit sketchy and I still had a lot of unloaded weight on the left-front,” said the 24-year-old who moved from AJ Foyt Racing to Andretti Autosport over the winter. “It locked up and it's impossible to get the tire to unlock. So unfortunately I just ended up in the wall. Disappointing.
“It's my first Fast Six, the team has been amazing and I couldn't be happier, but obviously with not how it ended. I wasn't even pushing that hard but it was cold tires and with the ride-heights being the way they were.”, defending IndyCar champion and a nine-time pole-winner at St. Petersburg also said that the gusts of wind through the final turn was the reason he fell 0.15sec short of advancing to the Fast Six.
"Traffic wasn't a problem at all,” he said. “I just kept getting push. You get that strong wind there in the last corner and I just understeered, went down a tenth and a half, and with this group it's just so hard to grab that back. Still happy to make it into the top 10 with the fierce competition out there.”
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