David Malukas, driver for the Team Penske team, has demonstrated a positive attitude despite being displaced from the provisional pole by Alex Palou from Chip Ganassi Racing during qualifying at the World Wide Technology Raceway.
Palou, the reigning champion and four-time IndyCar winner, achieved a time of 174.353 mph over an average of two laps, surpassing Malukas’s time of 173.244 mph. The time difference was 0.3305 seconds on the 1.25-mile oval layout.
Malukas, who is debuting this season with Team Penske, showed calm after qualifying. He expressed satisfaction with the team, highlighting the better adjustments made compared to the first practice, where he finished in sixth position.
“No, I’m not disappointed,” Malukas, 24, asserted. “I’m very happy with this team. It was a guessing game to know how this car should be. The temperature variation was quite significant.”
Moreover, he commented that although his time was good, Palou’s ascent as the last driver to qualify resulted in a general increase in times on the track. Malukas ultimately placed second, emphasizing that it was a good result for him in this context.
The WWTR is a special circuit for Malukas, as he finished second during his warm-up season in IndyCar in 2022, among drivers like Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin. Now, competing with the #12 Chevrolet from Penske, he acknowledged the thrill of starting on this track.
“It’s very gratifying. I always remember that moment. Being here is a dream come true. We start from the second position and we’ll see what this race offers us. Naturally, it’s an oval and anything can happen,” he concluded, keeping hopes up for a good race.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
