INDIANAPOLIS – A rookie driver in the Indianapolis 500 will always remember his first qualifying attempt.
It’s a challenge of putting together four, high-speed laps with a combination of consistency while pushing the limit to the very edge of going out of control.
For New Zealand’s Scott McLaughlin, he got his first experience of Indy 500 qualifications on Saturday with a four-lap average of 230.557 miles per hour in the No. 3 Pennzoil Chevrolet for Team Penske.
“It was just amazing,” McLaughlin told SPEED SPORT. “You forget that you are part of the Indy 500 and part of the Team Penske team, but you have to realize everyone is going to make a qualification attempt.
“Those four laps are quite nerve-racking because you just have to put it together. It’s tough. It’s one of the toughest things I’ve done in a long time, but I’m very proud.”
Although he’s mired in mid-pack, 17th starting position in the middle of row six, McLaughlin is the highest starting driver at Team Penske in Sunday’s 105th Indianapolis 500.
That’s better than teammate Josef Newgarden, a two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion who starts on the outside of Row 7 with a four-lap average of 230.071 mph in the No. 2 Shell Fuel Rewards Chevrolet for Team Penske.
It’s also better than 2019 Indianapolis 500 winner Simon Pagenaud, who starts in the middle of Row 9 after a four-lap average of 229.778 mph in the No. 22 Menard’s Chevrolet.
As for 2018 Indianapolis 500 winner and 2014 NTT IndyCar Series champion Will Power, he had to wait until Sunday to make the race through the Last Chance Shootout. Power starts 32nd in the 32-car field after a Sunday four-lap run that averaged 228.875 mph in the No. 12 Verizon 5G Chevrolet.
It will be a three-time Australian Supercars champion that will cross under the green flag first of any of the Team Penske entries on Race Day. Next up for the young driver from Christchurch, New Zealand is going the distance and battling for the Indy 500 victory.
“I had to qualify, I’m nervous, I’m always nervous, but I’m pretty happy where we are at,” he said. “I think we can get better for the race.”
McLaughlin is being mentored by the great, four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears this season. He finished second in his first-ever oval race earlier this month at Texas Motor Speedway.
Mears has been able to give McLaughlin a great deal of advice, but there is one tidbit of information that Mears has told McLaughlin to remember the most.
“Trust your ass,” McLaughlin said. “Feel the car. Sorry, but that’s literally the best piece of advice I’ve ever had. Trust it. If something doesn’t feel right, come in. If it feels good, play with it, get used to it, the front bar, the rear bar, the weight jacker.
“Rick Mears has been phenomenal. Having Rick in the garage is such a fantastic moral boost, morale boost, and he’s such a nice guy. For a guy that’s done it all in IndyCar racing, to lend a hand and really just simplify a lot of things, especially for me, when things are coming at me very quickly, especially these last few days, he’s even making little changes just in terms of car setup to make sure I’m comfortable before I go out, and that was in the first day. We made a really good change before I went out, and it worked out really well, and I gained a whole heap of confidence from it.
“To have a guy come in like that, talk about lines, he calls them patterns, get my timing right, it’s a really cool thing and very unique, and I’m really taking it in my stride as well as everyone else on this team.”