Spencer Pigot Finishes REV Group Grand Prix in 14th; Ed Jones Finishes 22nd

(ELKHART LAKE, Wis.) June 23, 2019 – Race Notes

– Today’s REV Group Grand Prix results did not come easy for Ed Carpenter Racing teammates Spencer Pigot and Ed Jones. Both fought through difficult conditions over the course of the event, but would take the checkered flag at the end of the day. Pigot brought home a 14th place finish at Road America while Jones finished in 22nd.

– Pigot and Jones came to the grid with their highest starting positions at Road America as both had advanced to the second round of qualifying. Jones, starting 11th, matched his best qualifying effort in three starts at the four-mile circuit. Pigot surpassed his previous best start at Road America as he qualified 8th.

– When the green flag dropped on today’s 55-lap race, Pigot slid back one position to 9th while Jones maintained the 11th spot. On Lap 4, the side of Jones’s No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Scuderia Corsa Chevrolet was struck by another competitor. Jones saved the car and did not go off course, but fell back to 16th following the contact. As Pigot began to struggle with grip on his opening set of red Firestone Firehawks, he too slipped down the order to 14th.

– Both ECR Chevrolets came into the pit lane for the first time on Lap 13. Pigot took a front wing adjustment and a set of scuffed black tires. Jones elected for the same changes after stopping from 20th. The field was shuffled after their stops as different strategies began to play out. Eventually, Pigot slotted into 13th and Jones was 21st. The teammates came in for their second pit stops on Lap 27, selecting sticker blacks for the following stint.

– Eventual race winner Alexander Rossi put Jones one lap down to the field on Lap 31, leaving Jones with only Tony Kanaan to battle for position. The only other car running near Pigot’s No. 21 Direct Supply Chevrolet was Marcus Ericsson, who Pigot quickly passed and built a sizable gap over. Pigot stayed in 13th and Jones in 22nd until both made their final pit stops for sticker reds on Lap 42.

– After his last stop, Pigot once again found himself alone on track. In the closing laps, he made up nearly 10 seconds on the car in front of him. However, Ericsson, on black tires, also closed the gap and took the position back from Pigot. Pigot would finish 14th in his fourth race at Road America. Not wanting to impede the progress of lead-lap cars, Jones moved over on Lap 47 to allow several cars by him. It would put Kanaan out of his reach, leaving him without the possibility of making up any positions. He would finish 22nd.

– Next up for the NTT IndyCar Series is the street race in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It will be the only international stop of the 2019 season. The three-day event will begin on Friday, July 14. The Honda Indy Toronto will be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 16.

ED JONES, No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Scuderia Corsa Chevrolet, Finished 22nd: “Today was a really tough race for us. We made more adjustments after practice and qualifying and unfortunately, it didn’t improve things for us on track. We struggled a lot with pace for much of the race. It can only get better for Toronto!”

SPENCER PIGOT, No. 21 Direct Supply Chevrolet, Finished 14th: “Going in, we thought red tires were going to be the way to go. We elected to start on use reds, thinking we would do just one stint on blacks. As it turned out, the reds had a lot of degradation and it was really hard to keep them underneath us. Doing two stints on reds hurt us. The car was really good on blacks and we were pretty fast. Unfortunately, we just made the wrong decision on tries and that’s all it takes to have a bad race. We’ll take the positives from this weekend and move on to Toronto.”