A lowly grid slot could not deny Alexander Rossi a top five finish at Barber Motorsports Park, as the 2016 Indianapolis 500 champion moved from eighteenth on the grid to finish fifth on Sunday.
The Andretti Herta Autosport driver made an early pit stop for fuel and fresh tyres and used strategy to perfection to gain thirteen positions, and praised his team for giving him a good car for the race after earlier struggles during the weekend.
Rossi is hopeful that the team can learn from the weekend in Alabama, and will be looking to avoid a repeat of the struggles they had during practice and qualifying.
“We knew based on our starting position that we had to come up with something different,” admitted Rossi. “We knew we were stopping early, then it was about how fast we can go while saving fuel. The team did a good job and gave me a good car.
“Considering we started 18th, a top five is really good. We worked really hard overnight and tried to understand where we made mistakes this weekend. We’ll use it as a learning experience and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”