Josef Newgarden will start 15th in the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis on Saturday, May 10 for Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing (SFHR) after turning a lap of 1 minute, 10.3601 seconds in qualifying Friday, May 9 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Newgarden was eliminated in Round 1 of Firestone Fast 6 qualifying, just one-tenth of a second short of advancing to Round 2.

“It’s a really close field; IndyCar is just really tight all around,” Newgarden said. “With everyone being incredibly good and close, if you miss it by a little bit, you can be off. It’s a shame we didn’t get through to the next round. I think we were close to a top-five car, but we will be working hard tomorrow and try to run up front.”

Scattered showers throughout practice and qualifying session Friday forced Verizon IndyCar Series teams to make quick decisions involving tire choice and car setup.

“It’s been back and forth all weekend trying to figure out the rain and dry conditions,” Newgarden said. “We’ve been chasing it quite a bit, but that’s all part of the learning experience. We have a lot of data to pour through for tomorrow, and we will figure out the setup we need for Saturday.”

Newgarden, a native of Nashville, Tennessee, is confident he can climb through the field in the No. 67 Klipsch Dallara/Honda/Firestone entry on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course.

“The Klipsch car should race well tomorrow,” he said. “We still aren’t 100 percent sure how passing will be because we’ve never raced here, but it seems like it will race well, and if it does, I think we’ll have a good shot at getting to the front.”

Sebastian Saavedra of KVAFS Racing earned the Verizon P1 Award for winning the pole.

To watch Newgarden and the No. 67 Klipsch car in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, tune into ABC for live coverage at 3:30 p.m. (ET) on Saturday, May 10. To keep up with the latest news, photos and video from SFHR, follow @SFHRindy on Twitter and Instagram and like Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing on Facebook.

About Klipsch

For over 65 years, Klipsch has designed premium speakers for those who are passionate about great sound. Company founder Paul W. Klipsch started this legacy in 1946, and it continues today with sheer commitment to innovation and delivering the world’s most powerful, detailed and emotional sound reproduction. Today, the brand’s diverse product portfolio encompasses home theater, professional cinema, installed whole-house contracting, commercial, computer speakers, iPod® docks and headphones. As one of the first U.S. loudspeaker companies, Klipsch continues to be the high-performance brand of choice for audiophiles and home theater aficionados around the world. Klipsch Group, Inc. is also a wholly-owned subsidiary of VOXX International (NASDAQ: VOXX).