Pato O'Ward "bummed out" after Arrow McLaren's triple knockout at Long Beach GP qualifying

IndyCar star Pato O'Ward revealed his emotions after a poor display from him and his teammates at the Long Beach Grand Prix qualifying round on Saturday. Arrow McLaren drivers looked set to bag in the top positions during qualifying for the Long Beach Grand Prix, including the team's star driver, Pato O'Ward.

However, it all unraveled during Round 2, when the British team suffered a three-way knockout after Nolan Siegel topped the second session of the practice timing sheet. Reflecting on his and team's misfortune, the Mexican drier admitted that he was 'bummed out' by how the session unfolded for the team.

While the first practice session was used by the Arrow McLaren drivers to dwell in their cars, the second session saw Nolan Siegel top the timing sheets. This induced confidence within the team as O'Ward and Christian Lundgaard had been on a roll after scoring a double podium at the previous race weekend in Thermal Club.

With high hopes of carrying on the hype, their qualifying session began with decent results as the Danish driver topped the Round 1 Group 1 qualifications. But Round 2 was the biggest outlier. The trio had progressed into the second round and expected to make it through into the Fast Six.

However, Lundgaard was met with a crash on his final run, and his McLaren teammates were hampered by this. Understanding how the mishap was not intentional, but disappointing from the overall result, Pato O'Ward said during the post-qualifying interview:

"Bummed out about it, I think we had enough to transfer there for at least a shot to get into the Fast 6. But, glad Christian [Lundgaard's] alright. Bummer for me I think, bummer for Nolan [Siegel] as well. He didn't get his lap in to be able to [make it into the Fast 6]. We all had the pace there. Sad to see there's only Chevy in there."

The 25-year-old has a best result of fifth at the Long Beach circuit, which he clinched in 2022, and is no stranger to qualifying down the order at the street track.

---

Pato O'Ward remains optimistic despite an underwhelming qualifying session

Pato O'Ward - Source: Getty

Pato O'Ward's P5 result in 2022 came after he qualified P11 for the race at Long Beach. He will be gearing up to pull in a similar feat this time around after he qualified ninth for the race on Sunday, April 13.

Sharing how he will go about the 90-lap race and how the strategy could pan out, he said:

"We could fight from ninth, this track is really sensitive to track position but we are no strangers to starting; not in the front row in Long Beach it hasn't been necessarily our best place in the past."

"It's five laps longer than last year. I say they should have done 10 laps, because the two-stopper is still very much in play. I think that's what you are going to see the leaders do, we will see what we could come up with."

On the other hand, Kyle Kirkwood bagged the pole position for the race tomorrow. He will be starting at the forefront of the field, at a track where he won his maiden Grand Prix and pole position in 2023.