Elkhart Lake, WI (Saturday, June 11, 2022) – Rookie David Malukas (#18 HMD Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports) put in another strong qualifying effort on Saturday by placing himself 14th on the starting grid for tomorrow’s Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America presented by AMR. His fastest time was less than four hundredths of a second from putting him into the Fast 12 for the second race in a row.
Starting: 14th
Round 1 / Group 2
Best Lap: 1:45.6017
- Malukas went out in the second group in Round 1 of qualifying and immediately jumped to first place following his first timed lap.
- He then improved on his time but fell to third in his group before heading to pit lane for a fresh set of alternate Firestone tires.
- The driver of the #18 HMD car registered his fastest lap on his fifth and final lap around the 4-mile, 14-turn road course.
- His lap of 1:45.6017, which placed him seventh in his group and 14th on the grid, was only 0.0339 seconds from sending him to the Fast 12.
- Malukas is making his first start at Road America aboard an Indy car this weekend.
- He has known success at the track in the Road to Indy, picking up three wins and three poles in the different series that make up the INDYCAR ladder system.
- His most recent appearance at Road America came in 2021 where he started second and won Race 2 of the Indy Lights weekend after leading all 20 laps.
- He also won both races from pole in the Indy Pro 2000 series in 2018, leading all laps.
- The rookie driver qualified an impressive and career best sixth in Detroit last weekend before equaling his best finish of the season with an 11th place (Detroit and Texas Motor Speedway).
David Malukas, #18 Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports Honda
“Sadly, it was another short qualifying session for me, and unfortunately it was because of a mistake on my part. The Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports team did such a great job getting the car where it needs to be for qualifying. We had a bit of work to do after the practice sessions, but they gave me a strong car for qualifying. We used the red tires for both runs because we thought we had a good chance of making the Fast 12. Unfortunately, I made a mistake on both of my runs, and we lost time that would have allowed us to get into the next round. Overall, I’m still happy being here at Road America and I know the car is very good, so hopefully we can have a good race tomorrow.”