A misjudgement of the red Firestone tyres during qualifying denied Jack Hawksworth a better qualifying result as the AJ Foyt Enterprises driver qualified in tenth around the streets of St Petersburg on Saturday.
Hawksworth had been on the pace during free practice but insists he will learn from the error at the next street circuit, which is Long Beach next month.
The British driver admitted the #41 car feels good to drive around the street circuit, the opening race of the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series season, and despite the qualifying mishap, he hopes to have a strong race on Sunday.
“The day started off well; we had a good practice this morning,” said Hawksworth, who out-qualified team-mate Takuma Sato by one place and 0.2557s. “The car feels really good.
“The guys have done a good job and it’s nice to see that all of the work over the winter is paying off and the fundamentals are getting better.
“In the qualifying I think we misunderstood the red tyres, so I think we missed it a little bit there but it’s certainly something we banked and will take to Long Beach. I think car-wise we have really good cars, both drivers. I believe we’ll have a good day tomorrow.”
