LEEDS, Ala. — Midway through the Saturday (April 30) morning practice for the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park, Alexander Rossi’s No. 27 Andretti Autosport Honda slid through the final turn and crashed, damaging the rear of the car and giving the team a massive repair job ahead of qualifying just two hours later.
Worse yet, Rossi was in the first group of qualifying, so all of Andretti Autosport’s efforts had to go into overdrive to get the car repaired with a new engine.
The repairs were successful enough that Rossi qualified fifth ahead of Sunday’s (May 1) 90 lap race at the 17-turn, 2.3 mile road course.
The 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner was fifth in the first group of the first round of qualifying, with the fastest six in both groups advancing to round two. In the second round of qualifying, Rossi was third fastest, with the top six advancing to the Firestone Fast Six.
Fifth place was the final result behind Rinus VeeKay, defending Barber polesitter Pato O’Ward, defending Barber winner Alex Palou and Scott McLaughlin, but the effort to get the car rebuilt cannot be understated.
“It was amazing just to be out there in the first place, have the opportunity to compete and qualify,” Rossi said. “Obviously we knew that the car had been strong all weekend. We didn’t get a chance on the red tires, so the first run was kind of guessing a little bit. I was just pleased to be out there. I mean, obviously when you advance all the way to the end, you hope for a little bit more. Ultimately where we were two hours ago, I think everyone is relieved and happy that we got through that. Every result that we get this weekend is down to those guys, for sure.”
The gratitude was warranted. Rossi’s 2022 season has not started on the best note with a 20th at St. Petersburg and a 27th at Texas before an eighth at Long Beach. After posting the third-fastest lap in Friday’s (April 29) practice session, Rossi was right to be…
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