Max Chilton ended his rookie Verizon IndyCar Series season with a sixteenth place finish at Sonoma Raceway, but admitted his afternoon started off on the back foot due to a problem with his car.
An overboost problem left him vulnerable from attack, and although the team were able to solve the issue, the lack of caution periods left the Chip Ganassi Racing driver with too much work to do, despite showing strong pace that was on par with the race leaders.
“It was a really up and down race for the Gallagher team today,” said Chilton. “It started with an overboost problem which left us a sitting duck out there unfortunately.
“I was trying to hang on and then we pitted to fix the problem and tried to get back in the fight. Then for a stint and a half we were doing the same pace as the leader and was actually catching him so I thought we were in good shape.
“I thought the last stint was going to be great for us with all the overtakes we had left but the last set of tyres didn’t feel right for some reason on the car. We were still quick compared to the others and just did our best at the end.”
