QUALIFYING NOTES: Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix
13th: CONOR DALY 01:16.0154 (111.293 mph)
14th: RINUS VEEKAY 01:15.5482 (111.981 mph)
TRACK: Streets of Belle Isle
LOCATION: Detroit, Michigan, USA
TRACK LAYOUT: 2.35-mile, 13-turn temporary street course
RACE LENGTH: 70 Laps/164.5 Miles
BROADCAST: Sunday – 3 p.m. ET, USA Network
CONOR DALY, NO. 20 BITNILE CHEVROLET
CONOR DALY, No. 20 BitNile Chevrolet, Qualified 13th: “I even decided not to eat lunch before the session, I thought that would have counted for the last hundredth but clearly it didn’t! This morning’s session was complete and absolute craziness; we didn’t even get to finish one lap. We got a few laps in now and picked up three seconds. It really proves that our car had the pace in it we thought. Starting 13th is alright, we’ll be in a good position to take advantage of what happens up front.”
OF NOTE:
• Conor Daly missed advancing to the second round of qualifying by a mere 0.0087 of a second. He was assigned to Round 1, Group 1 of qualifications. Even though his best lap was three seconds faster than he was in this morning’s practice, he sat 7th at the end of the ten minutes and did not advance to Round 2.
• Daly is riding a wave of momentum into Detroit following a strong Month of May. For the first of the two races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the GMR Grand Prix on the road course, he qualified 4th and finished 5th. Just last weekend, he paced the Indianapolis 500 field for several laps before finishing 6th. Now, Daly is back at the location of his best NTT INDYCAR SERIES finish to date as the first of 2016 races awarded him a second place finish.
• BitNile Holdings, Inc. is the primary partner of the No. 20 Chevrolet as part of a multi-year deal. BitNile is a diversified holding company that specializes in disruptive technologies, including cryptocurrency and innovations in the field of Decentralized Finance (“DeFi”). They focus on large-scale crypto mining with energy efficient, powerful operations located in North America and operate their own high-density data center. BitNile invests in technology platforms that provide crypto holders a vehicle to earn interest on their crypto assets.
RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 BITCOIN RACING TEAM POWERED BY BITNILE CHEVROLET
RINUS VEEKAY, No. 21 Bitcoin Racing Team Powered By BitNile Chevrolet, Qualified 14th: “There was a lot more in the car. We couldn’t show it this morning because there were so many red flags, but the car felt good both in both practices. The balance was pretty good on the lap I did, but we are seven-tenths off. That is way too much! I know we can do a lot with strategy here, but it’s really disappointing to qualify 14th.”
OF NOTE:
• Rinus VeeKay will start 14th in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, right next to teammate Conor Daly. VeeKay was assigned to Group 2 of Round 1 and had ten minutes to set a quick time. At the checkered flag, he sat 7th overall and would not advance to the second round.
• VeeKay had never driven on the streets of Belle Isle in any series until the opening NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice last year. Less than 24 hours later, his first race in Detroit ended with a podium finish as he took the checkered flag in the second position. Though the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix is only one race in 2022, it has historically been a double-header. In the second of the two races in 2021, VeeKay qualified 3rd.
• The No. 21 will carry the same Bitcoin Racing Team Powered by BitNile scheme seen last weekend. ECR became known as the Bitcoin Racing Team in 2021 when Veekay raced a Bitcoin car in the Indy 500. Through the generosity of BitNile Holdings, Inc. (BitNile), the Bitcoin Racing Team continues to grow in 2022.
Tags Bitcoin Racing TeamBitNileChevroletChevrolet Detroit Grand PrixConor DalyNTT IndyCar SeriesRinus VeeKay