Pippa Mann knew the whole Pocono Raceway weekend was going to be tough even before taking to the track, but she was even more downbeat following qualifying where she ended up twenty-first.
The Dale Coyne Racing driver was the slowest of those to set a lap time, but without any pre-race testing or any running of any sort since competing in the Indianapolis 500 in May, it was always going to be tough for the British racer.
Mann is hoping that both she and team-mate Conor Daly can work on the set-up and get it into a workable window so to be able to improve during Sunday’s 500-mile race.
“So far I think it’s been a challenging weekend,” admitted Mann. “We knew it was going to be tough coming here with Conor (Daly) not having been here before and myself being out of the car since May and not getting to test.
“I think we’re all a little disappointed with how challenging it’s been. That said, we’ve got another practice session this evening, so we’ll keep working to make both of our cars better and then it’s a 500-mile race tomorrow.
“It’s a really long race and if we can get the car in the window and drive a smart race there’s no reason that we can’t turn this weekend around and have a good day.”
