INDIANAPOLIS (Saturday, May 14, 2022) – Rookie David Malukas (#18 Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports) experienced his first wet race in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES on Saturday while also scoring his best finish on a road course with a 12th place at the GMR Grand Prix.
Started: 24th
Finished: 12th
- Malukas entered pit lane on Lap 4 to switch from wet tires to the Firestone Alternate tire.
- Following his first stop and with the track drying up, the rookie made some passes and went from 23rd to 15th by Lap 31.
- He was sitting seventh when he entered pit lane on Lap 34 for another set of dry tires.
- With rain picking up the HMD engineering crew made the call on Lap 42 to switch to wet tires but the gamble didn’t pay off when the rain tapered off.
- However, Malukas would return to wet tires on Lap 61 with rain picking up once again.
- The driver of the #18 HMD Honda exited pit lane in 18th but would climb his way up to 12th to take the checkered flag.
- In five NTT INDYCAR SERIES starts this season, Malukas has a best finish of 11th at Texas, and a best starting position of 18th (Long Beach and Barber Motorsports Park).
- His result at the GMR Grand Prix today is his best finish on a road or street course this season.
David Malukas, #18 Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports Honda
“Wow, what a race! I don’t even know what to say. It was a massive race of survival. I knew it was going to be that, but I still wasn’t expecting it to be that much. Thankfully we survived without any incidents. Everything went quite smoothly for us, for how chaotic the whole race was. It was wet at the start, but once it dried up we were very competitive on the dry tires and I made moves left and right and moved up some positions. But those last couple of laps with the heavier rain, we were hydroplaning going out of Turn 11 and they were still waving it green, I couldn’t believe it. It’s an incredible feeling going into Turn 1 at 180 miles per hour without really seeing much you still have to go flat. Not only did we end up surviving but we also finished with a good position.”