QUALIFYING NOTES: Streets of Toronto
20th: RINUS VEEKAY 01:01.0870 (105.253 mph)
25th: CONOR DALY 01:05.2593 (98.524 mph)
TRACK: Streets of Toronto
LOCATION: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
TRACK LAYOUT: 1.786-mile, 11-turn street circuit
RACE LENGTH: 85 laps/151.81 miles
BROADCAST: Sunday – 3 p.m. ET (Peacock Premium)
CONOR DALY, NO. 20 BITNILE CHEVROLET
CONOR DALY, No. 20 BitNile Chevrolet, Qualified 25th: “Qualifying was a bit of a disaster, but really through no fault of our own. There were cars that were stopped in front of me at the beginning of the session, I’m not sure who decided to use half of the track as a gapping area. It meant that I got backed up into Colton (Herta), which I then got penalized for. That was a shame because it was the first lap out there, which was never going to be his fastest anyway. Then we had the red flag, which stopped our session. It literally could not have gone worse, which means tomorrow is going to be great.
OF NOTE:
• Conor Daly was the last car to leave the pit lane as part of Round 1, Group 2. As the 13 cars created their gaps for qualifying, Daly was backed up all the way to the first car to exit the pits. As he was not yet up to speed, Daly was penalized for qualifying interference and lost his two fastest laps. Still trying to improve his position, he was forced to lift when a driver who had gone into the tires backed up on to the track in front of him. A red flag came out for a separate incident and that lap was invalidated. Everyone was offered one timed lap when the green came back out, but the session was brought to a close early by another red flag before Daly could record a lap on the red tires. He will start 25th tomorrow.
• Daly’s first season as full-time driver of ECR’s No. 20 BitNile Chevrolet has featured a stretch of solid results. Daly advanced through all rounds of qualifying and started 4th in the first race of May, the GMR Grand Prix. Battling both wet and dry conditions during the race, he earned a Top 5 finish. Two weeks later, he paced the Indianapolis 500 field for several laps before finishing 6th. Additional strong results followed in Detroit and Road America. In the most recent race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Daly brought home another solid finish after gaining nine positions of the course of the race.
• 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 POWERD BY BITNILE CHEVROLET
RINUS VEEKAY, No. 21 Bitcoin Racing Team Powered By BitNile Chevrolet, Qualified 20th: “We could barely get a lap in. Once the tires got warm, I only got in one solid lap on the blacks and then there was a red flag. With time for only one lap on reds and the tires still cold, I actually improved my time and I was happy about that. But then, someone spun, there was another red and I got my fast lap taken away. Tomorrow is a long race, there’s a lot we can do with strategy and I do think we a have a good racecar. I love passing people, so hopefully I can do a lot of that.”
OF NOTE:
• Rinus VeeKay was caught out by the same red flags that disrupted his teammate’s qualifying session. He had just recorded his first lap on black Firestone Firehawks that were up to temperature when the 10-minute session was halted by a red flag. With limited time remaining, drivers were only offered one timed lap when the session resumed. On red Firehawks that were not yet warm, VeeKay still managed to improve his lap time. However, the second red flag came out just before VeeKay reached the timing line and the lap would not count. VeeKay sits 20th on tomorrow’s starting grid.
• VeeKay put on a show two weeks ago at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with smart driving and impressive passes. His performance propelled him to a 4th-place finish, his best result since a podium at Barber Motorsports Park in early May when he started from the pole position. A few weeks later, he qualified on the front row of the Indianapolis 500 for the second year in a row and started third. With his qualifying performance, he was the fastest Chevrolet-powered driver in the 33-car field for the third consecutive year.
• Through the generosity of BitNile Holdings, Inc. (BitNile), ECR’s Bitcoin Racing Team will continue to grow in 2022. VeeKay is back in the No. 21 Bitcoin Racing Team Powered by BitNile Chevrolet, the same design he campaigned in this year’s Indy 500. Any individual who scans the unique QR code on the side of the No. 21 car and completes the registration will receive free Bitcoin from Earnity, a community-based crypto platform of which BitNile is a significant investor.
Tags Bitcoin Racing TeamBitNileChevroletConor DalyHonda Indy TorontoNTT IndyCar SeriesRinus VeeKayStreets of Toronto