St. Petersburg, FL (Saturday, March 4, 2023) – Dale Coyne Racing drivers David Malukas (#18 HMD Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports) and Sting Ray Robb (#51 Biohaven – Dale Coyne Racing with RWR) qualified 16th and 23rd respectively for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Details for each driver are below.
Malukas to Start Season Opening Race from Eighth Row
St. Petersburg, FL (Saturday, March 4, 2023) – David Malukas (#18 HMD Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports) kicked off his 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season by placing 16th on the starting grid for tomorrow’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
Starting: 16th
- The sophomore Dale Coyne Racing driver went out in Group 2, in Segment 1 of qualifying.
- He registered his fastest time on his penultimate lap with a time of 1:00.0796. His time placed him eighth in his group.
- Malukas is making his second start at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg this weekend and his 18th career NTT INDYCAR SERIES start.
- In his debut race last year on the streets of St. Petersburg, the rookie finished 26th after contact with the wall about a quarter of the way into the race.
- Overall, in 2022, Malukas had a best finish of second at World Wide Technology Raceway and a best starting position of fifth (Toronto). He finished in the top 10 three times and started in the top 10 seven times.
- He ended up second in the 2022 Rookie of the Year battle.
David Malukas, #18 Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports Honda
“Unfortunately, it was a short qualifying for us. From first practice to second practice, our car was actually very quick, and we were always in the top half of the field. Even with being in the top 10 or top 12, we didn’t really have a clear lap because it’s obviously a busy field. Going to qualifying we went out on primary tires and I think we set the fastest or second-fastest time on that tire before changing to the Guayule (alternate) tire. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the set up quite right. We didn’t make a big enough change coming from practice and it was too much understeer, so it’s a mistake on our part. We weren’t expecting the track to change that much. So at the end of it, we finished eighth in our group.”