Max Chilton admitted that he struggled for pace during qualifying at Pocono Raceway on Saturday, and found out the reasons first hand why the track is called The Tricky Triangle.
The Chip Ganassi Racing driver felt confident heading into the event after testing at the circuit two weeks ago, but was unable to replicate the pace he showed then on Saturday as he qualified down in seventeenth position.
“I can see why they call this place the Tricky Triangle because this track is totally different from when we tested here a few weeks ago,” revealed Chilton. “It’s definitely a tough place to figure out.
“I was adjusting the car and trying to get the most out of it, but I didn’t have the confidence in the car for qualifying.”
Scott Dixon – Credit: Chris Owens / IndyCar
Chilton was eight places behind the leading Ganassi entry of Tony Kanaan but just behind fellow team-mate Charlie Kimball, who recovered from a crash in practice earlier in the day to qualify sixteenth, but all three were ahead of the much-fancied Scott Dixon, who also appeared to struggle for balance and qualified down in nineteenth position.
“It wasn’t great out there in the Target car today for some reason,” said Dixon. “The car was extremely loose and we had quite a few issues this morning.
“We did a little bit of race running in the practice session but we lost a lot of track time with the crashes this morning that others had.
“I just don’t think we did a good job rolling off the truck this weekend and we paid for it in qualifying for sure. We have a lot of work to do before the race.”
