LEXINGTON, Ohio — Carlin’s debut season in the Verizon IndyCar Series took another positive step Saturday at the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio when driver Max Chilton became the team’s first driver to reach the Firestone Fast Six round of Verizon P1 Award qualifying.
Chilton qualified the No. 59 Gallagher Chevrolet in sixth position with a lap of 1 minute, 6.6172 seconds (122.023 mph) around the 13-turn 2.258-mile natural terrain road course. It equaled Chilton’s career-best qualifying effort, set previously at Watkins Glen in 2016 when he drove for Chip Ganassi Racing.
“I'm over the moon,” Chilton said. “It's amazing for a new team. Having a test day makes a world of difference. Luckily, we were here last week testing.”
Since Carlin is a new team in the Verizon IndyCar Series, INDYCAR grants extra in-season test days and the Del Ray Beach, Florida, team took full advantage of it at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on July 17.
“The car was decent,” Chilton said of his qualifying effort. “(Friday), we thought we lost something. (Saturday) morning, we felt we weren't a million miles away. I literally focused on getting everything out of the car. We didn't change much between sessions, just fine-tuning it.”
Carlin has slowly progressed since its drivers started 20th (Chilton) and 21st (Charlie Kimball) at the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Chilton qualified 10th in the group qualifying format for the first race in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. Kimball is fresh off a fifth-place finish two weeks ago at the Honda Indy Toronto. Chilton’s performance at Mid-Ohio on Saturday is further indication that the team continues to move forward.
“I think for a new team coming into the series, I think we're 8 out of 10,” said Chilton. “I think we're doing a great job. The thing that really hurts is we've got no engineering staff which have done INDYCAR before; we have no factory-based team. We very rarely get to test at a track we race on (and) this was one of the first tracks we got to test at.”
While Chilton will start near the front of the field, Kimball will start 15th in the No. 23 Tresiba Chevrolet. Kimball’s lone Verizon IndyCar Series win came at Mid-Ohio in 2013.
“I'm really happy for the No. 59 crew," Kimball said. "It just shows the progress that Carlin has been making and how we're continuing to step up each and every time we get to the racetrack.”
The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio airs live at 3 p.m. ET Sunday on CNBC and the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network, with a same-day encore telecast at 6:30 p.m. on NBCSN.