Leeds, Alabama (Saturday, April 30, 2022) – Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports rookie David Malukas was doing well during Round 1 of qualifying for Sunday’s Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama but an off track excursion and light contact with the barrier meant he would have to settle with an 18th place on the starting grid for tomorrow’s race.
Starting: 18th
Group 2 / Round 1: 9th
Best Lap: 1:06.8898
- Malukas spent the first half of the 10-minute session in the top 6 of his group and was sitting fourth when he entered pit lane for a new set of Firestone alternate tires.
- He was sitting seventh when he started his final lap. However, Malukas would end up going off course in Turn 13 and unable to improve on his time.
- The rookie lost his fastest two laps due to causing a red flag.
- Malukas made progress in the day’s final practice, moving up to ninth on the time sheet.
- In his last official visit to Barber Motorsports Park in Indy Lights in 2021, the first generation American picked up a win, from pole, and set the fastest lap in Race 2 of the weekend. It was also his first Indy Lights win.
- So far in his rookie NTT INDYCAR SERIES season, he has a best finish of 11th at Texas, and a best starting position of 18th (Long Beach).
David Malukas #18 HMD Honda – Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports
“It’s been a tough weekend so far, but we’ve made progress with every session. We had a decent car going into qualifying, I think we found what we needed. I was on a really good lap that could have possibly moved us into the second round of qualifying, but, unfortunately, on that lap someone in front of me put some dust on the track in Turn 9 and while I knew my lap was ‘done’ at that point, I was still committed and continued to push but there was more dust in Turn 13 and I lost it there. I managed to get it straightened out a bit, but it was too late and I ended up getting some damage. On the bright side, we had a good final practice and I think we’ll have a good pace for the race tomorrow.”