Max Chilton admitted his pre-qualifying practice crash on Saturday knocked his confidence around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but the British driver came back fighting on Sunday to qualify on the inside of row eight in twenty-second place.
The Chip Ganassi Racing driver praised the efforts of his team for working hard to get him into the race, and took part in qualifying on Sunday with a completely rebuilt car following his crash at turn two that had prevented him running in the opening qualifying session on Saturday.
Chilton admitted some disappointment of the qualifying outcome, but the former Formula 1 driver is ready to make his Indianapolis 500 debut next Sunday.
“Yesterday I lost a little bit of confidence, but I was ready to go today in the Gallagher car,” said Chilton. “Just a phenomenal effort by the whole team to get another car prepared after the incident yesterday.
“We struggled a bit with the set-up and I’m disappointed with the way qualifying ended up like this, but it’s over now and we’ll move forward.
“The team deserves all the credit for turning an entire car around in 12 hours and now we’re in and the 500 is all that counts.”