Toronto, ON (Saturday, July 15, 2023) – David Malukas (#18 HMD Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports) will start 17th in the Honda Indy Toronto on Sunday after losing his two fastest qualifying laps for impeding another competitor.
Starting: 17th
- After placing 10th in the Saturday morning practice session, Malukas was looking forward to taking to the track for Round 1 of qualifying.
- The #18 HMD driver was looking strong to make a second consecutive trip to the Fast 12 as qualifying got underway.
- He registered a fastest lap of 1:01.8670 in the first half of the 10-minute Group 1 segment.
- However, the sophomore driver received a penalty for having impeded another competitor and lost his two fastest laps, which at the time relegated him to 13th in his group.
- Unfortunately for Malukas, with rain starting to fall over the 1.786-mile, 11-turn street circuit, he could only manage to register a lap time of 1:02.0296.
- The time placed him 9th in his group and 17th on the starting grid.
- Last season at the Honda Indy Toronto, Malukas finished 12th after registering his best qualifying performance of the season with a fifth place on the starting grid.
- So far this season, the #18 HMD driver has a best starting position of ninth and a best finish of fourth (both at Texas Motor Speedway).
- The Honda Indy Toronto will be broadcast live on Peacock starting at 1:30pm ET, Sunday, July 16.
David Malukas, #18 Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports Honda
“Going into qualifying, I think we had a good set up with our car. We knew we’d have the car where we wanted it to be with the understeer once we went out on the alternate tire. But in the end, we got caught out by the rain and we also got a penalty that cost us our two fastest laps so that cost us what I think would have been a good qualifying result today.”