Nashville, TN (August 7, 2021) – Dale Coyne Racing with RWR driver Romain Grosjean made another trip to the Firestone Fast 6 on Saturday during qualifying for the Music City Grand Prix and guaranteed himself a fifth place on the starting grid for Sunday’s inaugural event. Cody Ware in the team’s sister #52 Nurtec ODT entry will be starting 27th.
Both Nurtec ODT drivers went out in the second group during Round 1 of qualifying on the 2.15-mile 11-turn street course. While Grosjean made it to the Fast 12 round with the sixth fastest lap in his group, Ware was 14th fastest in the group as he continues to progress with every session.
In Round 2 of qualifying, Grosjean continued to improve his lap times, registering a fastest lap of 1:15.01. The time initially placed him first, but he would find himself in seventh once the checkered flag fell on the session. However, Josef Newgarden’s sixth place lap at the time was disallowed following his contact with the wall in the final minute and Grosjean was able to move on to the Fast 6.
It marked the second time this season that the Swiss-born Frenchman has made it to the Firestone Fast 6 and his fourth time qualifying in the top 5 (Detroit Doubleheader didn’t feature a fast 6). He put in a fastest lap of 1:15.40 on his third and final lap of the six minute session which placed him sixth on the results sheet but fifth on the starting grid to due to a grid penalty to another competitor.
Romain Grosjean - #51 Nurtec ODT Honda “Another Fast 6 today, which is great for us. We’ve been pushing hard in qualifying, and it paid off today. Yesterday the #51 Nurtec ODT Honda was awesome, but today the track changed a bit and we couldn’t quite get it as we want it. The good thing is that we have time to make some more changes before warm up and to get it ready for the race.” Cody Ware - #52 Nurtec ODT Honda “We made big strides today. The Dale Coyne Racing with RWR team did a mega job helping me get comfortable and up to speed in the Nurtec ODT Honda around the Music City Grand Prix. I keep learning every day and I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow.” The inaugural Music City Grand Prix is scheduled to go green on Sunday, August 8 at 4:45pm local time and will be broadcast on NBCSN from 5:30pm ET. Drivers will also get a 30-minute warm up from Noon local time.