The Thermal Club IndyCar race had a wide range of emotions in storage for the Andrertti drivers. Colton Herta and Kirkwood had ended the round in the top ten, whereas Marcus Ericsson had spun off track during the race and came home well down the pack.
Post-race shenanigans for Herta
However, Herta’s car no. 26 suffered a post race penalisation, with the entry being detracted ten points and fined because of a lack of anti intrusion plates being mounted.
In spite of the team penalisation, the actual driver didn’t suffer from any loss. Herta had commented on his race positively, while still acknowledging once again his close proximity to a rather elusive podium.
He ran in the top 5 throughout the day, taking advantage of Kyle Kirkwood’s deg in the last stint for P4.
“It was a good day for the Gainbridge Honda. Our car was fast, but I think we needed a little bit more to get to that podium position. It’s frustrating to not get that win, but overall, I’m happy with how we ran the race. Looking forward to getting out to Long Beach in a few weeks.“
A couple of costly mistakes for Ericsson
On the other hand, Ericsson really had a disappointing day at the office. The Swede in his second year with Andretti discussed how his Thermal Club race turned into a forgettable performance following his big spun.
“It was a bad day for me. I made a couple of mistakes that were very costly. The first on the first lap when I positioned myself not in a great spot and spun. We were sort of recovering after that, and the Bryant Honda felt okay. We had some decent pace overtaking some cars, and we had a good first pit sequence.”
After an early misstep, the 500 winner had managed to recover quite a bit of pace, but unfortunately the worst was yet to come.
“We managed to stay in position, but on the out lap I was pushing hard to keep position, and I spun in Turn 9 flatspotting the tires. We had to stay out, though, or else we would have gone a lap down. From then on, it was really a struggle.
“The car just wasn’t the same after that. It was a really tricky day and we were just playing catch-up and trying to recover at that point. Tough day, but the Bryant crew did a great job as always and we’ll look forward to Long Beach.”
Late frustration for Kirkwood
Kirkwood had a positive day at the office overall, even if the two-time IndyCar race winner wasn’t completely satisfied with his last stint as his primary tyres fell off a cliff.
Running in a very solid P4 just ahead of teammate Herta in the penultimate stint, he got eaten up in the closing laps.
“We should have finished fourth or fifth today, but unfortunately our last set of tires suffered some tire deg. Last year we did not have the strongest result, but a test here earlier this year proved that we can change things around.
“So, coming away with a top-10 finish today is a big positive. Thanks to everyone from the No. 27 crew for their work this weekend.”
He is the highest Andretti pilot in the drivers’ standings so far in P6 with 54 points to his name. Kirkwood had gone into further detail on what destroyed his race in the final stages in a post-race interview with Frontstretch Open Wheel.
“Oh, we just got an extreme tyre deg and it was from a tyre that you wouldn’t expect it to happen from.
“So, I’m very disappointed in that. There was no indicator in the previous three stints. We ran very good, very clean, very fast the entire previous three stints and then the last one our tyres just decided to go off a cliff only six or seven laps into it.
“So disappointing. That’s part of it, though. Sometimes things like that happen and that’s motor racing. But it’s better than ending up in the wall because because of something.
“So, we’ll take an eighth place. Only only lost four positions because of it. Sucks, wish we had another top five. But yeah, eighth place is not bad, nonetheless, in any car.”
Kirkwood, who doesn’t wish for a repeat of the points awarding event, also discussed the physicality of the Thermal Club race.
“No cautions. To be honest, because of how much deg and how slow the pace was because of the heat, it wasn’t that that physical. It was kind of light, greasy. It was just the heat that really did anything. Anytime it’s 90 degrees ambient, it’s going to be 100, 110 plus inside the cockpit. So that an hour and 45 of gruelling heat while you’re trying to constantly turn around this place is not easy,” he concluded.
