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Qualifying Report: Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix

DETROIT June 3, 2016—Qualifying for Race 1 of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix took place under sunny skies at the 2.35-mile, 14-turn circuit on Belle Isle. Driving the No. 14 ABC Supply Honda, Takuma Sato advanced out of the first round of qualifying and will start 11th in Race 1.

“It’s a bit of a frustrating qualifying session for us because we had a pretty good car at the beginning of the qualifying session. We lost speed on the alternate [compound – red] tires which we couldn’t figure out. We need to better understand this and hopefully tomorrow we get it right.”

Jack Hawksworth had a problem with the steering on his No. 41 ABC Supply Honda. He will start 22nd.

“There’s not much to say, we had a problem with the steering so that was all she wrote,” Hawksworth said. “Obviously I’ve started at the front here and finished at the back [2014], and I’ve started in the back and finished somewhere near the front [2015], so we’ll be starting at the back tomorrow and hopefully we can sort it out and go forward.”

Team President Larry Foyt said, “We had a bearing issue in the steering that caused a bad feeling for Jack. We are looking into the cause, but for sure it will be right for the race tomorrow.”

Simon Pagenaud won his third Verizon P1 Award of the season with his lap of 1:14.9166 (112.926 mph) in the Firestone Fast 6. Second through sixth were: Helio Castroneves, Juan Pablo Montoya, James Hinchcliffe, Carlos Munoz and Scott Dixon.

Teams will have a morning practice and then will qualify for Sunday’s Race 2 prior to running Race 1 tomorrow afternoon. Race 1 will be broadcast live by ABC-TV starting at 3:30 p.m. ET.